LESSONS 



LITERATURE 



ABRIDGED 





Class M 

Book X 

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Lessons in Literature 



ABRIDGED 



WITH ILLUSTRATIVE SELECTIONS 



A TEXT-BOOK FOR SCHOOLS 
AND ACADEMIES 




CHICAGO 

AINSWORTH & COMPANY 

1903 




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Copyright, 1896, by C. G. Ainsworth 
Copyright, 1903, by C. G. Ainsworth 



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PREFACE. 

The main object of the compiler of this work was to 
embody in a volume of convenient size, material to assist 
the student in making profitable use of the time allotted 
to the study of literature. It is a fact acknowledged by 
only too many earnest teachers that much valuable time 
is wasted in learning biographies where the avowed in- 
tention is that of studying literature. 

This work is not intended to be a universal history of 
English literature ; it is merely a text-book to assist in 
imparting both knowledge and culture, — knowledge by 
its historic facts, culture by its illustrative material, which 
it is hoped will open the gate and set the student on the 
way to those delights of literary study found only in re- 
tirement. 

An attempt to learn about too many writers is unsatis- 
factory in its results, but an acquaintance with certain 
English authors is imperatively demanded of those readers 
who would aspire to the title of English scholars. While 
we have endeavored to give prominence to those who 
have illustrated in prose or in verse the great tongue 
which is fast gaining supremacy among the languages 
of the world, the needs of Catholic students have been 
considered, and it is with pride and with pleasure that we 
note the growing prominence of able Catholic writers. 

In preparing this work, the plan as first conceived was 
that it should bear the test of actual use in the class-room, 
and that it should be held subject to revision before being 
presented to the public. Having been thus used with 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

interest and profit by the compiler, it is offered to other 
teachers with the hope that they too may find it useful. 

The selections from Longfellow, Lowell, Whittier and 
Emerson are used by permission of and arrangement with 
Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. The writer is under a 
similar obligation to Mr. H. F. Brownson, and to Messrs. 
D. Appleton & Co. for permission to use selections from 
their publications ; also to the Cassell Publishing Com- 
pany of New York for selections from the " Life of John 
Boyle O'Reilly," copyright, 1891. 



PUBLISHERS' NOTE. 

Through the destruction of the electrotype plates, used in 
printing earlier editions, and the demand for a condensed edition 
at a lower price, we have brought out this abridged edition ; 
materially reducing the length of the illustrative selections, as 
from the great number of complete editions of the choice selec- 
tions from leading authors there seems a lesser need from the 
long abstracts found in the first editions. 

Teachers are recommended to send for the Lakeside Classics 
series, now consisting of 93 numbers, a full list of which will be 
sent upon application. Ainsworth & Company. 



LESSONS IN LITERATURE 



SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. 

" Dreams, books, are each a world ; and books, we know 
Are a substantial world both pure and good ; 
Round these with tendrils strong as flesh and blood, 
Our pastimes and our happiness will grow." — Wordsworth. 

The elementary study of literature consists in reading 
the works of worthy writers ; it is far more than a cata- 
logue of names and dates. Some information about the 
author and the composition of the work to be read, and 
about its fame and merits is a natural introduction. Thor- 
ough study should be given to masterpieces of literature — 
literature by eminence, and especially to the best pas- 
sages in these masterpieces. These express in happy 
speech what the great and good have thought and felt and 
done. By careful study of their works, we can repeat in 
ourselves their thoughts and feelings, their hopes, their 
aspirations, ideals and resolves. 

Before beginning this study, let the class review 
English prosody, becoming familiar with the various 
kinds of metrical feet, with the Chaucerian and Spenserian 
stanzas, and the sonnet. Let word study come first, thus 
exacting a clear comprehension of the text, next take 
clause by clause to make clear the train of thought. Such 
is the primary study of literature, re-thinking its great 
thoughts. 



6 SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. 

The biographical and descriptive portion of this work 
will be found to be brief; but to write of one great lu- 
minary, of Newman for instance, as the subject deserves, 
would require more than one volume and a lifetime. The 
compiler aims rather at suggesting, at inspiring desires 
that may lead young minds to do great deeds, deeds to be 
felt in their own lives, and that may both here and here- 
after make the doers of them loved of God and of man. 

Encourage in your pupils a taste for good reading, 
and teach them that reading is not merely the gathering 
of a stock of ideas — it is the gathering of material which 
the mind should work into thought. " This is the point 
wherein great readers are apt to be mistaken. Those who 
have read of everything are thought to understand every- 
thing too ; but it is not always so. Reading furnishes the 
mind only with materials of knowledge, it is thinking 
makes them ours ; without this, what we read is but so 
much loose matter floating in the brain." The mind 
should be early trained to this task of thinking while we 
are reading. At first the task is not easy, but exercise 
will give facility, and only those who have acquired it 
have the true key to books and the clue to lead them 
through the maze of opinions to certainty and truth. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Introduction g 

Anglo-Saxon Works 9 

Caedmon's Paraphrase .'. g 

The Venerable Bede n 

Alfred the Great n 

Geoffrey of Monmouth 12 

Norman Rule in England 13 

Roger Bacon 14 

Rhyming Chroniclers 15 

Chapter I. — Early English Period 16 

Chaucer 18 

Prologue to "Canterbury Tales" 23 

Foreign Contemporaries _ 24 

English Contemporaries 25 

Chapter II. — Elizabethan Period 29 

The Drama 33 

Shakespeare 35 

" Macbeth " 42 

Foreign Contemporaries 43 

English Contemporaries 46 

Chapter III. — Civil War Period 63 

Milton 65 

"Paradise Lost" 72 

Foreign Contemporaries 76 

English Contemporaries 78 

Chapter IV. — Eighteenth Century 94 

Alexander Pope 95 

"Essay on Man" _. 101 

Foreign Contemporaries 103 

English Contemporaries 105 

Dean Swift 105 

Chapter V. — Modern Times 144 

Historical Notes 144 

William Wordsworth 146 

" Intimations of Immortality " 152 

Alfred Tennyson 154 

Chapter VI 180 

John Henry, Cardinal Newman 180 

Nicholas Patrick, Cardinal Wiseman 188 

Henry Edward, Cardinal Manning 190 

Chapter VII. — American Literature 235 

Colonial and Revolutionary Periods 235 

James Otis 236 

Benjamin Franklin 237 

Other Writers 238 

Chapter VIII. — National Period 242 

Progress of Literature 242 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 242 

William Cullen Bryant 251 

Oliver Wendell Holmes 256 

Other Writers 25g 

Chapter VIII. — Continued 26g 

Prose Writers 26g 

Daniel Webster 26g 

Nathaniel Hawthorne 274 

Ralph Waldo Emerson _ 27g 

Other Writers 281 

Chapter IX.— Writers of the Present Era.. 293 



A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE POETS- 
LAUREATE OF ENGLAND. 



THE VOLUNTEER LAUREATES. 

(Not Officially Appointed.) 

Geoffrey Chaucer 1368 to 1400 

Sir John Gower 1400 to 1402 

Henry Scogan — - 

John Kay 

Andrew Bernard i486 to 

John Skelton 1489 to 

Robert Whittington 15 12 to 

Richard Edwards 1561 to 

Edmund Spenser 1590 to 

Samuel Daniel 1598 to 

THE POETS LAUREATE. 

(By Royal Appointment.) 

Letters-patent to this office were first granted in 1630, the 
salary being iioo and 40 gallons of canary per annum. The 
holder of the office was required to compose a birthday ode for 
the king or celebrate in verse some national victory. Later on, 
in the time of Southey, the wine was commuted by a money 
payment and the birthday ode abandoned. The office is now a 
sinecure. 
Samuel Daniel Not formally appointed 



Ben Jonson Lau 

Sir William Davenant. 

John Dryden 

Thomas Shadwell. ..... 

Nahum Tate 

Nicholas Rowe 

Laurence Eusden 

Colley Cibber 

William Whitehead. . . . 

Thomas Warton 

Henry James Pye 

Robert Southey 

William Wordsworth.. . 
Alfred, Lord Tennyson 
Alfred Austin 

8 



eate from 1630 to 1637 

1637 to 1668 

1668 to 1688 

1688 to 1692 

1692 to 1715 

1715 to 1718 

1718 to 1730 

1730 to 1757 

1757 to 1788 

1788 to 1790 

1790 to 1813 

181 3 to 1843 

1843 to 1850 

1850 to 1892 

1895 to 



ENGLISH LITERATURE. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Anglo-Saxon Works. — The earliest specimens of Eng- 
lish literature are two Anglo-Saxon poems, written 
probably in the tenth century. One of these, the ballad- 
epic " Beowulf," is the most ancient and the most inter- 
esting of the old English poems, presenting, as it does, 
characters instinct with chivalry and generosity. The au- 
thor's name is unknown, but the manuscript still kept in 
the British Museum is undoubtedly the work of a monk. 
It is written continuously in Danish characters, resem- 
bling our manuscript of prose. The poem contains more 
than six thousand lines, and the scene of its action indi- 
cates that it was composed by Saxons who lived before 
the invasion of England. Beowulf was a hero, somewhat 
like Theseus among the Greeks. 

Rude as the poetry is, its hero is grand ; and he is so 
simply by his deeds of chivalry and generosity. The poem 
is .supposed to be allegorical, the monster being a poison- 
ous exhalation from the marshes. Should this supposi- 
tion be a correct one, this old poem shows the fondness 
of our ancestors for allegorical expression. 

Caedmon's Paraphrase. — The other poem is the epic 
called Caedmon's Paraphrase of the Scriptures. It 
was written about two centuries after the Angles and 
Saxons began their invasion of England. An interest- 
ing legend is connected with this work. Caedmon had 
learned nothing of the art of verse, the alliterative jingle 

9 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

so common among his fellows ; wherefore, being some- 
times at feasts, when all agreed to sing in turn, he no 
sooner saw the harp come towards him than he rose from 
the board and went homeward. Once when he had done 
this, and had gone from the feast to the stable where he 
had that night charge of the cattle, there appeared to him 
in his restless sleep one who bade him sing. " I can't 
sing," said Caedmon. " I* came out hither from the feast 
because I could not sing." The stranger said, " But you 
must sing to me." " What must I sing? " said Caedmon ; 
and the voice replied, " Sing the origin of creatures." An 
inspiration came to the peasant, and the words of his 
song lingered in his memory when he awoke. Visiting 
the monastery of Whitby in Northumbria, soon after 
this, his new endowment was recognized as a gift from 
heaven, and at his earnest solicitation he was received 
as a member of the religious order established there. 

He has been styled the Anglo-Saxon Milton because 
he sang of Lucifer and of Paradise Lost. Bede tells us 
that no other religious poet could compare with Caedmon, 
for " he did not learn the art of poetry from men, but 
from God." It has been supposed that this great poet of 
the Anglo-Saxons suggested to Milton the subject of 
his renowned epic. Both describe wicked angels, their 
expulsion from heaven, their descent into hell, and the 
creation of the world. There are many passages in which 
the epic poet of the seventeenth century has thoughts 
closely resembling those written by the monk of the 
seventh century. 

Among the other Anglo-Saxon writers of this early 
time, Venerable Bede and King Alfred the Great deserve 
special mention. 



INTRODUCTION. H 

The Venerable Bede (663-735). — This famous personage 
tells us that when but seven years of age he was placed 
under the care of the Abbot Benedict, in the Abbey 
of Wearmouth. Some years later the Abbey of Jarrow 
was founded, and Bede went thither. The rest of his 
biography is contained in the following passage, trans- 
lated from one of his works : 

" Spending all the remaining time of my life in that mon- 
astery, I wholly applied myself to the study of Scripture, and 
in the interval between the hours of regular discipline and the 
duties of singing in the church, I have always taken pleasure 
in learning, or teaching, or writing something. In the nineteenth 
year of my age I received deacon's orders ; in the thirtieth those 
of the priesthood, from which time till the fifty-ninth year of my 
age I have made it my business, for the use of me and mine, to 
compile out of the works of the venerable fathers and to interpret 
and explain according to their meaning, these following pieces." 

His writings form almost an encyclopedia of the knowl- 
edge of his day. He compiled text-books on mathemat- 
ics, astronomy, grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, music, and 
medicine. But it is by one work that he has made the 
English nation a lasting debtor to him. His " Ecclesias- 
tical History of the Anglo-Saxons," written in Latin, 
was for centuries the only source of knowledge in matters 
relating to the nation's early career. 

Alfred the Great (849-90). — One of the extraordinary 
men of this time was King Alfred, who, in 871, succeeded 
his brother Ethelred I. on the throne of England. His 
keen desire for learning was early awakened by his pious 
mother, Osburga, who offered a beautifully decorated 
Saxon poem to the first of her children who should be 
able to read it. Alfred was the youngest child, but by 
diligent study he won the prize offered by the queen. 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

No sooner had he freed his people from the bondage 
of the Danes, than he attempted to free them from the 
fetters of ignorance. At this time illiteracy was almost 
universal, but, in various quarters, King Alfred sought 
out learned men, and inviting them to his court he opened 
schools for the instruction of his subjects. The king 
frequently lamented that Saxon literature contained no 
books of science, and to supply the deficiency, he himself 
undertook the task of translating them. He was nearly 
forty years of age when he began the study of Latin, yet 
he translated many valuable works into his native tongue. 
The patronage and example of the king must have in- 
duced the writing of many works, but few of them have 
escaped the relentless hand of time. 

Among the most important of his translations are 
Bede's " Ecclesiastical History," Pope Gregory's " Pas- 
toral Cares," the " Soliloquies " of St. Augustine and the 
" Consolations of Philosophy," by Boethius. 

Geoffrey of Monmouth ( 1154). —Among the later 

writers, Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Welsh Bishop, de- 
serves mention. He is the author of a well-known " His- 
tory of the Britons." Historically it is of little value, but 
it has proved to be a mine of literary wealth to subsequent 
writers. The fiction of Sabrina, as given by Geoffrey, be- 
comes " the virgin daughter of Locrine " in Milton's " Co- 
mus." The story of Lear, king of Britain about 753 
B. C, is expanded into Shakespeare's magnificent tragedy 
of that name. The history of Gorboduc, called Gorbo- 
gudo by Geoffrey, gave to Sackville the material for our 
first English tragedy. As a crowning feat, Geoffrey res- 
cued from oblivion the story of King Arthur and the 
Knights of the Round Table. Drayton reproduces much 
of this in his " Polyolbion ; " Spenser drew largely from it 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

in his " Faery Queene," and Tennyson has added much 
to his reputation by putting it into modern verse. 

Norman Rule in England (1066). — When Harold, the last 
of the Saxon kings, fell pierced by an arrow on the 
battle-field of Senlac or Hastings, the voice of the 
British nation seemed stilled forever. William the Con- 
queror brought Englishmen under Norman rule. The 
most important changes resulting from the conquest were 
the establishment of the feudal tenure of land in England, 
the introduction of the chivalric spirit, and the separation 
of society into two classes — a foreign nobility and a dis- 
contented people. The Saxon thane, the friend and com- 
panion of his humble fellows, was superseded by the arro- 
gant and oppressing Norman baron. 

No sooner had William the Conqueror secured the 
throne of England than he began the work of extirpating 
the Saxon language. This he did by ordering that the 
elements of grammar should be taught in the French 
language ; and that all deeds, pleadings in court and 
laws should be written in French.* Saxon then fell into 
contempt, and those of the old race who were more 
politic than patriotic set to work vigorously to acquire 
the favorite tongue of the nobility and higher classes. 
Those who had some pretensions to education took pride 
in speaking " the Frensche of Paris." Still the mother- 
tongue could not be trampled out, and an idiom sprang 
up called the Semi-Saxon. This differed in many re- 
spects from the old Saxon, but it was not as yet suffi- 
ciently complete to constitute a new language. Hallam 
says : " Nothing can be more difficult than to determine, 
except by an arbitrary line, the commencement of the 
English language. For when we compare the earliest 
English of the thirteenth century with the Anglo-Saxon 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

of the twelfth, it seems hard to pronounce why it should 
pass for a separate language rather than a modification 
of the former." 

This was the age that beheld the foundation of the 
great universities, when the study of philosophy and the- 
ology excited universal enthusiasm. We are told that in 
1 23 1 the number of students at Oxford, together with 
their attendants, amounted to thirty thousand. The Eng- 
lish monasteries, too, were so many centers of study and 
learning. But, in both the universities and the monas- 
teries, Latin was still the chief medium of imparting and 
transmitting knowledge. 

The literary productions of the eleventh and twelfth 
centuries in England are mainly the works of ecclesiastics. 
Among these may be mentioned Lanfranc, Archbishop of 
Canterbury ; St. Anselm, the successor of Lanfranc ; Lay- 
amon, a priest of Worcestershire ; and Wace, an Anglo- 
Norman priest and poet. An alien language and litera- 
ture ruled in the land, and the result upon Anglo-Saxon 
literature was inevitable. It had entirely disappeared be- 
fore the accession of Edward III. 

Roger Bacon (1214-1294). — This English monk of the 
Franciscan Order propounded most enlightened views 
upon the value of experimental philosophy, but so far 
was he in advance of his age that his scientific researches 
found no imitators. His descriptions of the nature and 
effects of convex and concave lenses led the way to the 
discovery of spectacles, telescopes and microscopes. He 
is also credited with the invention of the air-pump, the 
camera-obscura, the diving-bell and gunpowder. 

Bacon wrote in Latin, and of his " Opus Majus " the 
critic Whewell says : " It is at once the encyclopedia and 
the Novum Organum of the thirteenth century." 



INTRODUCTION. 15 



RHYMING CHRONICLERS. 

The Rhyming Chroniclers are so called because they 
professed to give in rhyming metre a record of history. 
One of the earliest of these writers was Layamon, a priest 
of Worcestershire, who produced, at the close of the 
twelfth century, a history called " Brutus of England." 
This work is known as " The Brut of Layamon." 

About 1290, a history of England from Brutus to the 
death of Henry III., was written by Robert, a monk of 
Gloucester Abbey. By many this work is regarded as 
marking a new era in our language. 

The last and most voluminous production of this period 
is a rhymed history of England usually known as the 
Chronicle of Robert Mannyng, a monk of Brunne, in 
Lincolnshire. 

However interesting Caedmon, Bede, Alfred the Great, 
Geoffrey and the Rhyming Chroniclers may be to the 
philologist, they are comparatively unimportant to the 
student of English literature, for theirs is a dead lan- 
guage, not the English that has existed since Chaucer 
gave us his " Canterbury Tales." " The earliest truly 
English writers borrowed neither imagery, nor thought, 
nor plan, seldom even form from older native models ; 
hence, Anglo-Saxon literature, so far from being the 
mother, was not even the nurse of the infant genius 
which opened its eyes to the sun of England five cen- 
turies ago." 



CHAPTER L 

Early English Period (1350-1558). 

The early part of this period is memorable in history on 
account of the military glories of Edward III. and his 
noble son, the heroic Black Prince. The gradual blend- 
ing of the Saxon and the Norman elements had estab- 
lished a national sentiment and thus secured the suprem- 
acy of England. In order to appreciate more fully the 
literary character of the period, the student must bear in 
mind some facts regarding the customs of the people. 
At this period of English history and for many years 
later, the home of a prosperous man consisted generally 
of a large wooden building (the hall), surrounded by sev- 
eral detached cabins (the bowers) situated in ample space, 
inclosed by an earthwork and a ditch, with a strong gate 
(the burh-gate) for entrance. The hall was the general 
resort of the numerous household. It was hung with 
cloth or embroidered tapestries, and had hooks for arms, 
armor, musical instruments, etc. The floor was of clay, 
or, in palaces, of tile mosaic. Its 'chief furniture was 
benches, which served as seats by day and for beds at 
night. A sack of straw and a straw pillow, with sheet, 
coverlet and goatskin, laid on a bench or on the floor, 
furnished a sufficient couch for even a royal Saxon. A 
stool or chair, covered with a rug or cushion, marked the 
master's place. The table was a long board laid upon 
trestles, and put aside when not in use. A hole in the 
roof gave outlet to the clouds of smoke from the open fire 
on the floor. The bowers furnished private sitting and 
16 



EARLY ENGLISH PERIOD. 17 

bed rooms for the ladies of the house, the master and dis- 
tinguished guests. Here the Anglo-Saxon dames carded, 
spun and wove, and wrought the gold embroideries that 
made their needlework famous throughout Europe. The 
straw bed lay on a couch in a curtained recess, and the 
furniture was scanty, for in those times nothing which 
could not be easily hidden was safe from plunderers. The 
little windows (called eye-holes) were closed by a wooden 
lattice, thin horn or linen, for glass windows were as yet 
scarce known. A rude candle stuck upon a spike was 
used at night. The women were fond of flowers and gar- 
dens. At the great feasts they passed the ale and mead, 
and distributed gifts — the spoils of victory — to the war- 
rior guests. The master was called the hlaf-ord (loaf- 
owner), and the mistress hlaf-dig (loaf-distributer) ; 
hence the modern words lord and lady. The domestics 
and retainers were called loaf-eaters. 

The Norman introduced new modes of thought and life. 
More cleanly and delicate in personal habits, more elabo- 
rate in tastes, more courtly and ceremonious in manner, 
fresh from a province where learning had just revived 
and which was noted for its artistic architecture, and com- 
ing to a land that for a century had been nearly barren 
of literature and whose buildings had little grace or 
beauty, the Norman added culture and refinement to the 
Anglo-Saxon strength and sturdiness. Daring and reso- 
lute in attack, steady in discipline, skillful in exacting sub- 
mission, fond of outside splendor, proud of military 
power and appreciative of thought and learning, it is to 
him that England owes the builder, the knight, the school- 
man, the statesman. 



18 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 



Geoffrey Chaucer (1328-1400). 

" I take increasing delight in Chaucer. How exquisitely 
tender he is, yet how perfectly free from the least touch of 
sickly melancholy or morbid drooping." — S. T. Coleridge. 

Geoffrey Chaucer, " the Father of English poetry," " the 
morning-star of song," was a man of mark; inventive 
though a disciple, original though a translator, and, by his 
genius, education and life, enabled to know and de- 
pict a whole world. It is supposed that Chaucer was 
born in London, but of his parentage nothing is known. 
That he was educated at a university may be held as 
certain, but whether at Oxford or at Cambridge is not 
so clear. A passage in the " Court of Love " — 

" Philogenet I called am ferre and nere 
Of Cambridge clerk," 

seems to tell in favor of Cambridge. On the other hand, 
it is known that his most intimate friends and disciples, 
Gower, Strode and Occleve, were Oxford men ; and the 
earnest scholar who makes one of the group of Canter- 
bury pilgrims is a " clerk of Oxenford." Early in life 
Chaucer was page to the wife of Lionel, Duke of Clarence ; 
and later he bore arms in the campaign of Edward III. 
against France in 1359. Taine says: "He was employed 
more than once in open embassies or secret missions at 
Florence, Genoa, Milan, Flanders ; commissioner in 
France for the marriage of the Prince of Wales ; high 
up and low down on the political ladder; disgraced, 
restored to place. 

A portrait of Chaucer, attributed to his friend Occleve, 
and a beautiful miniature introduced into one of the most 




GEOFFREY CHAUCER. 



EARLY ENGLISH PERIOD. 21 

valuable manuscript copies of his works, would lead us to 
believe that the poet was of low stature and somewhat cor- 
pulent, his face small and fair, his eyes downcast and medi- 
tative. In the prologue to " The Rime of Sir Thopas," 
the host of the Tabard, himself represented as a " large 
man " and a " fair burgess," calls upon Chaucer to con- 
tribute a story and rallies him on his corpulency, as well 
as on his studious and abstracted air. 

His works are of two kinds, translations and tales of 
social life ; the style alternating from grave to gay, moral 
to licentious, chivalrous to vulgar. In prose composition 
he is comparatively uninteresting, but as a poet, in point 
of time, he is our first great English classic. He became 
to others what none had been to him, a standard. He 
was greatly admired by Spenser and Milton, and was 
imitated by Dryden, Pope, Wordsworth and Tennyson. 
In fact, all great poets since his time have drawn largely 
from the fountain of Chaucer's inspiration. 

Principal Works. — Chaucer's most important works are 
the " Canterbury Tales," " Troylus and Cryseyde," the 
" Flower and the Leaf," the " House of Fame " and the 
" Legende of Goode Women." The following selection is 
from one of his minor poems, his " A, B, C," as it is called, 
or " Prayer to our Lady." It displays the author's tender 
and unaffected devotion to the Mother of God. 

Comfort ys noon, but in you, Lady dere! 

For loo my synne and my confusioun 
Which oughte not in thy presence for to appere, 

Han take on me a grevouse accioun 
Of verray ryght and disperacioun ! 

And as by ryght they myghten wel sustene, 
That I were worthy my damnacioun, 

Nere mercye of you, blysful hevennes queene ! 



22 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Glorious mayde and moder! whiche that never 

Were better nor in erthe nor in see, 
But ful of swetnesse and of mercye ever, 

Help, that my fader be not wroth! 
Speke thou, for I ne dar nat him yse; 

So have I doom in erthe, alias the while ! 
That certes, but that thow my socour be, 

To synke eterne he wol my goost exile. 



By many " Troylus and Cryseyde " is ranked next to 
the " Canterbury Tales." The material was drawn from 
Boccaccio, and the story was extremely popular in the 
Middle Ages and even later. Shakespeare himself has 
dramatized it. 

The " Flower and the Leaf " is an allegory probably 
written to celebrate the marriage of Philippa, daughter 
of John of Gaunt, with John, King of Portugal. 

The " House of Fame " by its extraordinary union of 
brilliant description with learning and humor, is sufficient 
of itself to establish Chaucer's reputation. Under the 
popular form of a dream, it gives a picture of the Temple 
of Glory, crowded with aspirants for immortal renown, 
and adorned with statues of great poets and historians. 

The " Legende of Goode Women " was one of Chau- 
cer's latest compositions. Its apologies for what had been 
written in his earlier years, and its mention of many of his 
previous works, clearly prove that it was produced after 
much of his busy life was spent. The avowed purpose of 
the poem is to make a retractation of his unfavorable de- 
scriptions of the character of women ; and for this purpose 
he undertakes to give a poetical sketch of nineteen ladies, 
whose lives of chastity and worthiness redeem the sex 
from his former reproaches. 



EARLY ENGLISH PERIOD. 



The Canterbury Tales. 

This, Chaucer's greatest and most original work, was 
given to the world in its present unfinished state in 1391. 
In this poem, Chaucer has poured forth in abundance 
his stores of wit, humor, pathos and knowledge of 
humanity; by this he has gained a place in the first rank 
of poets and character-painters. Each tale is admirably 
adapted to the teller as portrayed in the Prologue, and all 
the tales are naturally bound together by little incidents 
such as are likely to occur among a number of travelers 
on horseback, journeying to the same place. 

Plan — The plan of the " Canterbury Tales " is simple 
but masterly. It makes the representatives of various 
classes of society tell a series of tales extremely beautiful 
when judged on their independent merits, but deriving 
a higher interest from the way in which they harmonize 
with their narrators. In the inimitable description of 
manners, persons, dress and all the equipage, with which 
the poet has introduced them, we behold a vast and 
minute portrait gallery of the social England of the 
fourteenth century. 

The Prologue to the tales describes the character of the 
pilgrims with unsurpassed simplicity and grace, but many 
satirical passages indicate that in hostility to the monks 
and the ecclesiastical hierarchy, Chaucer sympathized 
with Wy cliff e. 

The tales themselves may be roughly divided into the 
two great classes of pathetic and humorous. The finest 
of the pathetic stories are, the Knight's Tale, the longest 
of them all, in which is related the adventure of Palamon 
and Arcite; the Squire's Tale, a wild half-Oriental tale 
of love, chivalry and enchantment; the Man of Lawe's 



24 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Tale, the beautiful and pathetic story of Constance ; the 
Tale of the Prioress, the charming legend of " litel He\v, 
of Lincoln," who was murdered for singing his hymn to 
the Blessed Virgin ; and, above all, the Clerk of Oxford's 
Tale, perhaps the most beautiful pathetic narration in 
the whole range of literature. This, the story of Griselda, 
is the tenderest of all the serious narratives, as the 
Knight's Tale is the masterpiece among the descriptions 
of love and chivalric magnificence. 

Foreign Contemporaries. — The greatest foreign contem- 
poraries of Chaucer were the Italian poets, Dante (1265- 
1321), Boccaccio (13 13- 1375) and Petrarch (1304- 

1374). 

Although Dante died in 1321, his influence was strongly 
felt throughout the century. In his sublime allegory — 
La Divina Commedia — he has caught up and crystallized 
the spirit of the Middle Ages. Their philosophy, their 
politics, their religion, their aspirations are immortalized 
in its amber pages. He is the poet of Catholicity. The 
elevation of his genius places him above all parties. A 
fierce, unyielding Ghibelline, he reproves both Guelf and 
Ghibelline. The three divisions of his great work, the 
Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise, represent the three-fold 
state of man ; thirty-three cantos representing the years 
of our Savior's life on earth, are devoted to each division. 
The poet first explores the seven regions of Hell (state 
of sin), accompanied by Virgil (the type of human rea- 
son), and then with the same guide traverses the seven 
circles of Purgatory (state of grace) and reaches Para- 
dise (the state of blessedness), where he meets Beatrice 
(the grace of God), who guides him through the nine 
spheres to the presence of God. Every part contains 
symbolical meaning, even the rhyme which is in honor of 
the Trinity. 



EARLY ENGLISH PERIOD. 25 

The " Decameron " and " Teseide " of Boccaccio are the 
only works whose influence is clearly marked in the writ- 
ings of Chaucer. The " Decameron " consists of a hun- 
dred tales divided into decades, each decade occupying 
one day in its narration. The tales are told by a com- 
pany of young persons of rank, who retired to a retreat on 
the banks of the Arno, in order to escape the infection 
of a terrible plague that devastated Florence in 1348. 

The sonnets of Petrarch are delicately beautiful. This 
poet devoted his time and means to the restoration of 
classical study, by collecting and copying ancient manu- 
scripts. To the Italian language he gave harmony and 
stability, so that even now scarcely an obsolete word can 
be found in his writings ; to Italian literature he furnished 
models which have always been considered the finest of 
their kind. 

English Contemporaries — Sir John Mandeville (1300- 
1372) ; John Gower (1325-1408) ; William Caxton (1412- 
1491) ; Blessed Thomas More (1480-1535) ; Roger 
Ascham (1515-1568). 

Sir John Mandeville, the great traveler, was the author 
of the first English book of prose. He is said to have 
spent thirty-four years in a course of travels, and after 
his return to his native land in 1356, he published 
his " Voyages and Travels " in Latin, then " put this boke 
out of Latyn into Frensche, and translated it again out 
of Frensche into Englysche, that every man of my Na- 
cioun may undirstonde it." The work possesses no 
national tone or coloring, and little, if any, purely literary 
interest ; but to the antiquarian it is interesting and valu- 
able, chiefly as giving the earliest example, on a large 
scale, of English prose. The most remarkable passage 
in the book is the argument, drawn from the author's 



26 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

own observations, to prove that the earth is round. As 
this was written one hundred and fifty years before 
Columbus made a practical test of the question, it is 
worth remembering. 

John Gower. — Closely linked with the name of Chau- 
cer is that of Gower. John Gower was a man of wealth, 
and passed his life quietly in literary work. He was edu- 
cated at Merton College, Oxford, and his learning 
was extensive though somewhat pedantic in its display. 
His poetic talent was but indifferent ; he lacked the 
warmth of imagination necessary for the poetic subjects 
of his time, and he was on all occasions so serious and 
didactic, so grave and sententious, that Chaucer called him 
the " Morall Gower." 

To William Caxton (1412-1492) England is indebted for 
her early participation in the benefits arising from the art 
of printing. This great invention of modern times was 
made in 1438 by John Gutenberg of Mainz. Caxton 
spent twenty-three years in Holland and Flanders, and 
while there became master of the art of printing. His 
press was set up at Westminster, and its first work, " The 
Game and Playe of the Chesse," appeared in 1477. In 
1877 this event was commemorated by the Caxton cele- 
bration, and no fewer than one hundred and ninety books 
printed by Caxton were exhibited. A much larger num- 
ber might have been collected had not the English Par- 
liament of 1550 ordered the destruction of all Catholic 
books. 

Sir Thomas More was born in London in 1480, and 
even in his youth displayed remarkable intellectual 
ability. When at Christmas time a Latin play was acted, 
young Thomas More could step in at will among the 
players and extemporize a comic part. He was educated 



EARLY ENGLISH PERIOD. 27 

at Oxford, and entered Parliament at the age of twenty- 
one. Early in the reign of Henry VIII. he rose to high 
position in the practice of the law, and at the command 
of the king became a member of the court, where he rose 
from one dignity to another, becoming at last Lord High 
Chancellor. 

His fame as a writer rests upon two works. The one 
most remarkable for literary style is his " Life of Ed- 
ward V.," which is according to Hallam " the first example 
of good English, pure and perspicuous, without vulgar- 
isms or pedantry." But his best known work is the 
" Utopia," written in Latin and translated by Burnet. In 
this work More presents views, on the subjects of morals 
and government especially, which at that time must have 
been new indeed. 

In 1535, Sir Thomas More was unjustly imprisoned 
and condemned to death by Henry VIII. , for refusing 
to take the oath of supremacy in which the king was 
declared to be supreme head of the Church. The 
self-possessed and heroic character of the man was well 
illustrated in his last moments ; " the fatal stroke was 
about to fall, when he signed for a moment's delay while 
he moved his beard from the block. ' Pity that should be 
cut,' he murmured, ' that has not committed treason.' 
With such words, the strangest, perhaps, ever uttered at 
such a time, the lips most famous throughout Europe for 
eloquence and wisdom closed forever." Faithfully and 
firmly attached to the principles of the Catholic faith, he 
lived amid the splendors of the court without pride, and 
perished on the scaffold without weakness. 

Roger Ascham, a native of Yorkshire, was sent at an 
early age to Cambridge, and during a lengthened resi- 
dence there he diligently promoted the study of the new 



28 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

learning. In 1544 he published his " Toxophilus," a trea- 
tise on archery. This work, dedicated to Henry VIII., 
was written to revive decaying interest in the use of the 
bow ; it is distinguished by quiet dignity of style and 
manliness of spirit. 

In 1553 he was appointed Latin secretary to Edward 
VI., and he retained the office (Milton held it under 
Cromwell) during the reign of Mary. On the accession 
of Elizabeth, he received the additional appointment of 
reader in the learned languages to the queen. Elizabeth 
used to take lessons from him at a stated hour each day. 
In 1563 he wrote " The Schoolmaster," a treatise on edu- 
cation, still valuable for the principles and rules of teach- 
ing therein expounded. Johnson says that it contains 
" perhaps the best advice that was ever given for the study 
of languages." 

Roger Ascham died in 1568, having overtaxed his frail 
strength by too close application to the composition of 
a Latin poem which he intended to present to Queen 
Elizabeth on the anniversary of her accession to the 
throne. 



CHAPTER II. 

Elizabethan Period (i 558-1625). 

After a brilliant opening under Chaucer, English liter- 
ature continued for more than a hundred and fifty years 
in poverty and feebleness, and it remained unvivified by 
genius even during the first half of the reign of Elizabeth. 
The peaceable and firmly settled state of the country under 
Elizabeth was largely instrumental in the rise of literary 
greatness. Under the tyranny of Henry VIII. , and in 
the short reigns of Edward and Mary, nothing was set- 
tled or secure ; doubt, suspicion and distrust prevented 
spontaneous action. The sagacity of Elizabeth and her 
able counselors detected the paramount political want of 
the country, and in consequence, a rather inglorious peace 
with France was concluded. The durable internal peace 
thus established was attended with happy results, and the 
general prosperity led her subjects to invest the sovereign 
under whom all this was done, with virtues and shining 
qualities not her own. During this reign, Ireland was 
devastated with fire and sword, and the minority in Eng- 
land who adhered to the Catholic faith became the victims 
of an organized system of persecution and plunder. 
Wealth poured into the kingdom, and with it came leisure 
which demanded entertainment. There was an awaken- 
ing of the people to general social improvement ; comforts 
were invented and used. 

" The gloomy walls and serried battlements of the 
feudal fortress now gave place to the pomp and grace of 
the Elizabethan hall. A mixed and florid architecture, 

29 



30 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

the transition from Gothic to Classical, marked the dawn 
of the Renaissance. Tall molded and twisted chimneys, 
grouped in stacks ; gilded turrets ; fanciful weather-vanes ; 
great oriel windows ; and the stately terraces and broad 
flights of steps which led to a formal garden — marked 
the exterior of an Elizabethan mansion. In the interior 
were spacious apartments approached by grand staircases ; 
immense mullioned windows; huge carved oak or marble 
chimney-pieces, reaching up to gilded and ornamented 
ceilings ; and wainscoted walls covered with pictorial 
tapestries so loosely hung as to furnish a favorite hiding- 
place. Chimneys and large glass windows were the espe- 
cial ' modern improvements.' The houses, which three 
centuries before were lighted only by loop holes, now 
reveled in a broad glare of sunlight; and the newly-found 
' chimney corner ' brought increased domestic pleasure. 
A flower-garden was essential, and a surrounding moat 
was still common. Town-houses, constructed of an oak 
frame filled in with brick or with lath-and-plaster, had 
each successive story projecting over the next lower; so 
that in the narrow streets the inmates on the upper floor 
could almost shake hands with their neighbors across the 
way." 

Furniture, even in noble mansions, was still rude and 
defective; and though the lofty halls and banqueting- 
rooms were hung with costly arras, the rooms in daily 
use were often bare enough. It was an age of orna- 
mental ironwork, and the 16th-century hearth and house- 
hold utensils were models of elegant design. The chief 
furniture of a mansion consisted of grotesquely carved 
dressers or cupboards ; round, folding tables ; a few chests 
and presses ; sometimes a household clock, which was as 
yet a rarity; a day-bed or sofa, considered an excess of 



ELIZABETHAN PERIOD. 31 

luxury ; carpets for couches and floors ; stiff, high-backed 
chairs ; and some " forms " or benches, with movable cush- 
ions. The bed was still the choicest piece of furniture. 
It was canopied and festooned like a throne ; the mattress 
was of the softest down ; the sheets were Holland linen ; 
and over the blankets was laid a coverlet embroidered 
in silk and gold with the arms of its owner. A portable 
bed was carried about in a leathern case whenever the 
lord traveled, for he was no longer content, like his an- 
cestors, with the floor or a hard bench. 

The poorer classes of Elizabeth's time had also im- 
proved in condition. Many still lived in hovels made 
of clay-plastered wattles, having a hole in the roof for 
chimney, and a clay floor strewed with rushes, under 
which lay unmolested an ancient collection of fragments. 
These were the people whose uncleanly habits fed the 
terrible plagues that periodically raged in England. But 
houses of brick and stone as well as of oak were now 
abundant among the yeomanry. The wooden ladle and 
trenches had given way to the pewter spoon and platter; 
and the feather bed and pillow were fast displacing the 
sack of straw and log bolster. Lea coal (mineral coal) 
began to be used in the better houses, as the destruction 
of forests had reduced the supply of firewood. The sul- 
phurous odor of the coal prejudiced many against its use, 
and it was forbidden to be burned in London during the 
sitting of Parliament, lest the health of the country mem- 
bers should suffer. 

At table all wore their hats, as they did also at church 
or at the theater. The noon dinner was the formal meal 
of the day, and was characterized by stately decorum. 
Forks were still unknown, but they were brought from 
Italy early in the 17th century. Bread and meats were 



32 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

presented on the point of a knife, the food being con- 
veyed to the mouth by the left hand. With common 
people, ale, spiced and prepared in various forms, was 
the popular drink; and the ale-houses of the day, which 
were frequented too often by women, were centers of vice 
and dissipation. Tea and coffee were yet unknown, and 
were not introduced till the next century. 

Domestic manners were stern and formal. Sons, even 
in mature life, stood silent and uncovered in their father's 
presence, and daughters knelt on a cushion until their 
mother had retired. The yard-long fan-handles served for 
whipping-rods, and discipline was enforced so promptly 
and severely that grown-up men and women often trem- 
bled at the sight of their parents. 

Street Life. — No end of rogues and beggars passed and 
repassed from morning till night, and many a brawl, rob- 
bery, and even murder, a 16th-century Londoner could 
witness from his street-door. At night the narrow city- 
lanes swarmed with thieves, who skillfully dodged the 
rays of the flaring cresset borne by the marching watch. 
Fortunately early hours were fashionable, and nine o'clock 
saw the bulk of society-folk within their own homes. 
Along the wretched country roads most travel was on 
horseback, the ladies riding on a pillion behind a servant. 
There was no regular stage communication. On the 
great road to Scotland were some royal post stations, but 
ordinary letters were sent by chance merchants or by a 
special courier. 

The people for the sake of amusement, took up the old 
popular drama which had come down from the very be- 
ginning of the Middle Ages, and which after a process of 
transformation and elaboration was developed into a 



ELIZABETHAN PERIOD. 33 

nearly perfect condition as we find it in Shakespeare. The 
theatrical literature of England is independent in its origin, 
and characteristic in its form ; and as it reflects faithfully 
the moral, social and intellectual features of the people, 
we shall briefly trace its rise and progress. 

The Drama. ■ — The origin of the drama may be traced 
to the odes chanted at the festivals of Bacchus, and the 
choruses sung in honor of Bacchus at the harvest-gather- 
ings among the Greeks. At the festivals, the principal 
sacrifice at the altar being a goat, the odes were called 
tragodia (goat-songs), hence our word tragedy; at the 
harvest-gatherings, the celebrations were in the villages, 
and the choruses were called komodia (village-songs), 
hence our word comedy. Later on, at the dawn of mod- 
ern civilization, most countries of Christian Europe pos- 
sessed a rude kind of theatrical entertainment, not like 
the plays of Greece and Rome, but representing the prin- 
cipal events recorded in Holy Scripture. These dramas 
were called " Mysteries," or " Miracle Plays," and seem 
to have been acted under the immediate management of 
the clergy, who deemed them favorable to the diffusion of 
religious feeling. At Oberammergau in Germany the 
custom of presenting the Passion Play still prevails. 

In the fifteenth century the Mysteries were superseded 
by allegorical plays called Moralities, in which sentiments 
and abstract ideas are represented by persons. Thus, 
instead of Jonathan and Satan of the Mystery, we meet 
Friendship and Vice. With the revival of learning, the 
plays of Terence and Plautus became generally known, 
and the career of the Moralities was shortened. 

Not long after the appearance of " Gorboduc " both 
tragedies and comedies had become common; and be- 
3 



34 



LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 



tween the years 1568 and 1580 no fewer than fifty-two 
dramas were enacted at court under the superintendence 
of the Master of the Revels. The first theater was Black- 
friars, an old abandoned monastery just outside the city 
boundaries. This was so successful a venture that the 
owners erected, not far from London bridge, the Globe 
Theater, a hexagonal building intended for representa- 

tions during the 
pleasant weather 
of the summer 
months. Both of 
these theaters were 
destitute of roof 
except immediately 
over the stage. The 
" groundlings " i n 
the pit stood upon 
the muddy ground 
with the open sky 
above them ; the 
nobility and other 
favored ones sat 
at the sides of the 
stage or behind the wings. A flag placed upon the 
top of the theater announced the beginning of the play, 
which always took place early in the afternoon. Before 
the play, the main portion of the audience, those in the 
pit, amused themselves by smoking and drinking. Very 
simple contrivances were used for scenes; for tragedy 
the stage w T as hung with black tapestry. Whenever nec- 
essary, a placard announced the locality of the scene, as, 
London, Athens, Venice. A platform in the middle of 
the stage served for window, rampart, tower and balcony. 




THE GLOBE THEATER. 



ELIZABETHAN PERIOD. 35 

It was from this that Juliet held her interview with 
Romeo ; and that Abigail threw the bags of treasure to her 
father Barabas, the Jew of Malta. Between the acts the 
time was occupied with singing and buffoonery, and at 
the end of the play a comic dance with musical accompani- 
ment was performed. 

In the creation of his greatest characters, Shakespeare 
could not have manifested such strength and versatility 
had there been no great actor to take these parts and 
vitalize them on the stage. Richard Burbage, son of the 
original proprietor of Blackfriars, was that actor. He was 
small in stature, graceful though fleshy, and handsome. 
Possessing great powers of mimicry, he became a perfect 
Proteus on the stage. Every emotion of the human heart 
could be plainly read upon his countenance ; he therefore 
excelled in the most difficult parts. 

William Shakespeare (1564-1616). 

" I loved the man and do honor to his memory, on this side 
idolatry, as much as any. He was indeed honest, and of an 
open and free nature." — Ben Jonson. 

" The name of Shakespeare is the greatest in our literature 
— it is the greatest in all literature. No man ever came near 
him in the creative powers of the mind ; no man ever had such 
strength at once, and such variety of imagination. Coleridge 
has most felicitously applied to him a Greek epithet, given before 
to I know not whom, certainly none so deserving of it — ' the 
thousand-souled Shakespeare.' " — Hallam. 

The authentic biography of William Shakespeare is 
very brief. Of his early life and education we know but 
little. He was born in the town of Stratford-on-Avon in 
Warwickshire, England, April 23, 1564, and died there in 
1616. Tradition says that he was a man of fine form and 
features, that he was beloved bv all who knew him and 



36 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

that he had the personal acquaintance of Elizabeth and 
of James I. His father, John Shakespeare, a glover, was 
in flourishing circumstances, having been one of the 
Aldermen of Stratford, and having served in the office 
of Bailiff or Mayor in 1569. That William Shakespeare 
could have obtained even the most elementary education 
from his parents seems impossible, for neither of them 
could write. This, however, was an accomplishment rare 
in Elizabeth's time. He attended the grammar school 
in Stratford, and this opportunity, together with the exten- 
sive though irregular reading of which his works give 
evidence, makes it probable that the poet had more train- 
ing than some of his admirers would give him credit for. 

At the age of eighteen he married Anne Hathaway, a 
young woman seven years his senior. Although much 
has been said about the probable unhappiness of this mar- 
riage, because of the disparity in age, there is in fact little 
reason for such a presumption. Three years after his 
marriage he went to London and joined a dramatic com- 
pany, following this career with industry and success. 
That he was acquainted with his art is clear from the 
inimitable " directions to the players " put into the mouth 
of tlamlet, which, in incredibly few words, contain its 
whole system. There is a tradition that tells of his acting 
the Ghost in his tragedy of " Hamlet," the graceful and 
touching character of Adam, the faithful old servant, in 
his "As You Like It," the deeply pathetic impersonation 
of grief and despair in the popular tragedy of " Hiero- 
nymo " and the sensible Old Knowell in Ben Jonson's 
" Every Man in His Humor." 

By adapting old plays to the demands of his theater 
he acquired that masterly knowledge of stage-effect, and 
evolved the dramatic genius which enabled him to write 




WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. 



ELIZABETHAN PERIOD. 39 

the greatest dramas in the literature of the world. His 
theatrical career continued from 1586 to 161 1, a period 
of twenty-five years, including his youth and the dignity 
and glory of his manhood. In 161 1 he sold his interest 
in the Globe Theater, left London and withdrew to the 
quietude of his home. There five years were spent in a 
leisure that must have been a strange contrast to the 
busy, thronging cares that had attended his professional 
life. An active interest in the welfare of his town, an 
occasional visit to London, generous entertainment of 
his friends, and the composition of one or two of his most 
famous dramas, seem to have occupied these years of re- 
tirement. He died on the 23d of April, 1616, the anni- 
versary of his birthday, and was buried in the parish 
church of Stratford. 

A distinguishing peculiarity of this poet is his freedom 
from any tendency to egotism. From his dramas we 
learn nothing whatever of his sympathies. He is abso- 
lutely impersonal, or rather he is all persons in turn ; he 
identifies himself with a multitude of diverse individuali- 
ties, and he does this so completely that we cannot detect 
a trace of preference. His characters are real flesh and 
blood. We know them, not by descriptions of them, but 
by actual intercourse with them, and the more familiar 
the student becomes with them, the more life-like they 
are. This is his greatest power, that he makes realities 
out of that which others make into pictures and dreams. 
In no class of his impersonations are the depth, the deli- 
cacy and the extent of his creative power more visible than 
in his delineations of women. " It would be gratifying 
and instructive," says Hudson, " to be let into the domestic 
life and character of the poet's mother. That both her 
nature and her discipline had much to do in making him 



40 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

what he was, can hardly be questioned. Whatsoever of 
woman's beauty and sweetness and wisdom was expressed 
in her life and manners could not but be caught up and 
repeated in his fertile mind. He must have grown familiar 
with the noblest parts of womanhood somewhere ; and I 
can scarce conceive how he should have learned them 
so well, but that the light and glory of them beamed upon 
him from his mother." 

The religious faith of Shakespeare is not definitely 
known, but his works are pre-eminently Catholic in their 
grandest and purest passages. Fear or ambition may have 
restrained him from open profession of his faith, but how- 
ever this may be, it is certain that no sneer at the rites 
or mysteries of the Catholic religion can be found on his 
pages. As to his morality, Cardinal Newman says : 
"There is no mistaking in his works on which side lies 
the right. There is in him neither contempt of religion 
nor skepticism. Satan is not made a hero, nor Cain a 
victim ; but pride ,is pride, and vice is vice, and whatever 
indulgence he may allow himself in light thoughts or 
unseemly words, yet his admiration is reserved for sanc- 
tity and truth. Often as he may offend against modesty, 
he is clear of a worse charge, sensuality, and hardly a 
passage can be instanced in all that he has written, to 
seduce the imagination or to excite the passions." It 
must also be remembered that he lived in an age when 
much more freedom was permitted in conversation than 
would be tolerated in our day. 

According to Furnivall's table, the names of Shake- 
speare's works, and the dates of their production, are as 
follows : — 

Comedies. — "Love's Labour Lost," 1588 or 1589; 
"Comedy of Errors," 1589 to 1591 ; "Midsummer Night's 



ELIZABETHAN PERIOD. 41 

Dream," 1590; "Two Gentlemen of Verona," 1590 to 
1592;" "Merchant of Venice," 1596; "Taming of the 
Shrew," of which Shakespeare wrote only the Katharine 
and Petruchio scenes, 1596 or 1597; "Merry Wives of 
Windsor," 1598 or 1599; "Much Ado About Nothing," 
1599 or 1600; "As You Like It," 1600; " Twelfth Night," 
1601 ; "All's Well That Ends Well," which Shakespeare 
recast from an old play, 1601 or 1602 ; " Measure for 
Measure," 1603 ; " Tempest," 1610; and " Winter's Tale," 
1611. 

Tragedies. — "Romeo and Juliet," 1591 to 1593; "Ham- 
let," 1602 or 1603; "Othello," 1604; " Macbeth," 1605 or 
1606; " King Lear," 1605 or 1606; " Cymbeline," 1610 to 
1612. 

Histories. — "Titus Andronicus," 1588; "First Part of 
Henry VI.," 1590 to 1592. These were only touched up 
by Shakespeare. " Second Part of Henry VI.," recast 
from another play, 1592 to 1594; "Richard II., 1593 or 
1594; "Third Part of Henry VI.," recast from another 
play, 1592 to 1594; "Richard III.," 1594; "King John," 
1595 ; " First Part of Henry IV.," 1596 or 1597 ; " Second 
Part of Henry IV.," 1597 or 1598; "King Henry V.," 
1595 ; "Julius Caesar," 1601 ; " Troilus and Cressida," 
1606 or 1607; "Antony and Cleopatra," 1606 or 1607; 
" Coriolanus," 1607 or 1608 ; " Timon of Athens," 1607 or 
1608; "Pericles," 1608; "Henry VIII.," 1613 ; of the 
three last mentioned Shakespeare wrote only a part. 

Long Poems. — "Venus and Adonis," 1593: "Rape of 
Lucrece," 1594. 

Sonnets.— 1592 to 1608. 



42 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 



MACBETH. 

The story of Macbeth is taken from a legend of Scot- 
tish history. A chieftain of that name killed Duncan in 
1040, and was proclaimed king of Scotland, but was de- 
feated afterward at Dunsinane, Perthshire, by Seward, 
earl of Northumberland. The life of Macbeth as depicted 
by Shakespeare is the history of a monomania. The 
witches' prophecy has sunk into his mind, like a fixed idea. 
Gradually this idea corrupts the rest, and transforms the 
whole man. Macbeth's hallucination becomes complete 
when his wife has persuaded him to assassinate the king. 
Having done the deed, he has a strange dream ; a frightful 
vision of the punishment that awaits him descends upon 
him. Above the beating of his heart, above the tingling 
of the blood which seethes in his brain, he hears the cry, 
" Sleep no more ! " A voice like an angel's trumpet calls 
him by all his titles : 

" Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor 
Shall sleep no more ; Macbeth shall sleep no more ! " 

This idea, incessantly repeated, beats in his brain, with 
monotonous and quick strokes, like the tongue of a bell. 
Insanity begins ; thenceforth in his rare lucid intervals 
he is like a man worn out by a long malady. 

" Had I but died an hour before this chance, 
I had lived a blessed time ; for, from this instant 
There's nothing serious in mortality; 
All is but toys ; renown and grace is dead ; 
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees 
Is left this vault to brag of." 

The action of the drama proceeds with breathless rapid- 
ity. The first crime, engendered by that " vaulting ambi- 



ELIZABETHAN PERIOD. 43 

tion which cloth o'erleap itself," necessitates the commis- 
sion of others to avert the consequences of the first. A 
large part of a life is presented to our eves in the light 
of one great, gilded, successful crime, until at last it top- 
ples over, and is quenched with the suddenness of an 
expiring rocket. 

" Macbeth " teaches us how one sin involves another, 
and forever another, by a fatal parthenogenesis ; and that 
the key which unlocks forbidden doors to our will or 
passion leaves a stain on the hand that may not be so 
dark as blood, but that " will not out." 

Foreign Contemporaries. — As the Renaissance or new birth 
of literature was not confined to England, Shakespeare's 
foreign contemporaries were many and noted. Spain, 
France and Italy could each count a larger number of 
poets than England. In dramatic literature especially, 
Spain excelled. 

The most famous of the Spanish dramatists was Lope 
de Vega, who died in 1635 at the a & e °^ seventy-three 
years. He was the author of about eighteen hundred 
plays. He began his career in 1588, and although he 
became a priest in 1609, he continued indefatigable in 
his dramatic work. He was a prodigy of nature ; not 
that we can ascribe to him a sublime genius, but his fer- 
tility of invention and readiness of versifying are beyond 
competition. He would sometimes write a play in three 
or four hours ; in twenty-four hours write a drama in 
three acts. His aim was to paint what he observed, not 
what he would have approved, in the manners of the 
fashionable world of his age. Taine says : "A volunteer 
at fifteen, a passionate lover, a wandering duelist, a soldier 
of the Armada, finally a priest ; so ardent that he fasts 
till he is exhausted, faints with emotion while singing 



44 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

mass, and in his flagellations stains the walls of his cell 
with blood." Lope de Vega may well be considered a 
prodigy of nature. 

Saavedra Cervantes (1547-1616). — Cervantes is a literary 
artist who began his career by writing verses when he 
was still a mere child. He served as chamberlain in 
the household of Monseigneur Aquaviva (who was after- 
ward cardinal) at Rome. He volunteered as a com- 
mon soldier in the expedition organized by the Pope and 
the state of Venice against the Turks, and was severely 
wounded, losing the use of his left hand and arm for life. 
He wrote twenty or thirty plays, but his genius did not 
lie in that direction. The whole force of the Spanish 
language is embodied in his master-piece, " Don Quixote." 
The book contains simple amusement for youth, and pro- 
found thought for old age. In a pleasant manner, it 
brushed away an evil without destroying with it either 
morality or the wholesome customs of society. It is inno- 
cent, amusing and serious ; it is a most accurate picture 
of the customs and manners of Spain in the sixteenth 
century. It is with all people, and deservedly so, a stand- 
ing monument of allusion and a source of frequent quota- 
tion. In its philosophical aspect, it represents the shock 
received by aspiration and day-dreams when they come 
in contact with the prosaic realities of life. From " Don 
Quixote " the general mind has learned the lesson that 
in this work-a-day world, romancing is for the imagina- 
tion alone. 

Pedro Calderon de la Barca (1600-1681).— This celebrated 
Spanish dramatist and poet was educated first by the 
Jesuits and then at Salamanca. He served the army at 
various times, and devoted his leisure moments to lit- 



ELIZABETHAN PERIOD. 45 

erature. He was patronized by Philip IV., and was for- 
mally attached to the court, furnishing dramas for the 
royal theaters. He became a priest of the Congregation 
of St. Peter, and afterward became Superior General of 
the Order, an office which he held until his death. Cal- 
deron is both poet and priest. For thirty-seven years he 
composed the Corpus Christi plays which were performed 
under the auspices of the Cathedrals of Toledo, Seville, 
and Granada. These plays were accompanied by music 
and scenes the most gorgeous. Noting the ease and skill 
with which the poet projects his inmost thoughts into 
outward representation, we marvel at the power of his 
genius. It is customary to judge Calderon by his secular 
plays, but his best work, his most perfect art, he puts into 
his religious plays. They are the most beautiful wreaths 
ever woven by human genius to be placed before the 
Real Presence. " We feel," says Baron von Eichendorff, 
" that under the terrestrial veil lies silent the unfathomable 
song which is the voice of all things, lost, as it were, in 
dreams of unutterable longing; but Calderon speaks the 
magic word, and the world begins to sing." 

Michael Eyquem de Montaigne (1553 1592). — This French 
writer is chiefly known by his " Essais." In these Essays 
Montaigne studies the men of the society of his day. He 
examines everything in a skeptical spirit, is inclined 
to doubt, and his motto is " Que sais-je?" Montaigne's 
ideas and influence may be traced in many of the best 
French authors of the 17th and 18th centuries, while out- 
side of France his Essays were diligently read by Bacon 
and Shakespeare. 



46 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 



English Contemporaries. 

Edmund Spenser (1553=1599). 

" Among the poets belonging to Elizabeth's reign, Spenser 
stands without a class and without a rival. There are few 
eminent poets in the language who have not been essentially 
indebted to him." — Campbell. 

" The poetry of Spenser is remarkable for brilliant imagina- 
tion, fertile invention and flowing rhythm; yet, with all these 
recommendations, it is cold and tedious." — Chateaubriand. 

The birth-place of Spenser was East Smithfield, Lon- 
don, near the Tower. Of his youth we know but little ; 
his parents though well-connected were poor, and their 
son entered Pembroke College, Cambridge, as a sizar. 
The principal duty of a sizar was to wait on the college 
pensioners called Fellows. Spenser's education was ac- 
quired under these humiliating conditions ; nevertheless 
he became an excellent scholar, receiving his degree of 
M. A. in 1576. 

After leaving college, Spenser became a tutor in the 
north of England, and at this time wrote the " Shepherd's 
Calendar." Through the influence of Gabriel Harvey, 
with whom Spenser had formed an intimate acquaintance 
while at college, he was introduced to Sir Philip Sidney, 
and the friendship of this man was of great value to the 
struggling poet. Sidney presented him to Dudley, Earl 
of Leicester, the favorite of Elizabeth, and Dudley 
brought him into the notice of the queen. To her, Spen- 
ser paid literary homage, and received a grant of land in 
Ireland. His residence there, Kilcolman Castle, not far 
from Cork, was a desolate place ; the plain was boggy, 
the hills and river at least two miles away. Here, far 
removed from the society of literary men, and bitterly 




EDMUND SPENSER. 



ELIZABETHAN PERIOD. 49 

hated by the Irish peasantry, he composed the " Faery 
Queene," the most important of his poetical works. In 
1 591 a pension of fifty pounds a year was decreed to him 
by the queen, thus virtually making him poet laureate. 
In 1598 Tyrcormell's rebellion broke out; Spenser's castle 
was attacked and burned, and his infant child perished 
in the flames. From the shock of this calamity Spenser 
never recovered. He died in a common lodging-house 
in London, January, 1599, impoverished and broken- 
hearted. Spenser was buried by the side of Chaucer in 
Westminster Abbey. " Expectations and rebuffs, many 
sorrows and many dreams, some few joys and a sudden 
and a frightful calamity, a small fortune and a premature 
end ; this," says Taine, " was the poet's life." 

In richness of imagery Spenser has perhaps never been 
equaled. Being naturally a creator and dreamer, his style 
is redundant, but clear and pure. In circumstantial de- 
scription he is tediously minute, and every reader has 
keen sympathy for the toiling patience which polished 
and decorated even the most obscure parts of his poems. 
His most important works are " The Faery Queene," 
" The Shepherd's Calendar," and "A View of the State 
of Ireland." 

His greatest work, " The Faery Queene," is a brilliant 
poetical description of the sentiments of chivalry. The 
original plan proposed twelve books, each book recount- 
ing the exploits of a knight and the triumph of a virtue. 
The poem contains a double allegory, and yet it is per- 
fectly clear. The following explanation will be useful as 
illustrative of the double allegory. The Faery Queene 
means in general The Glory of God ; and in particular, 
Queen Elizabeth. Britomartis, the heroine of the third 
book, means Chastity, and also stands for Elizabeth. 
4 



50 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Arthur means Magnificence, and also the Earl of Leices- 
ter. The Red Cross Knight is Holiness and also the 
model Englishman ; Una, Truth and the Protestant 
Church ; Duessa, Falsehood and Mary Queen of Scots. 
The fact that the corrupt and perhaps murderous Leices- 
ter, the queen's favorite, was Arthur, the hero of the 
poem, is sufficient to make us stop further inquiry into 
the truth of the allegory. 

Only six books of the poem were published, but the 
incompleteness of the work is not to be regretted, for the 
vigor and splendor of the first three books decline in 
the fourth, fifth and sixth. Macaulay says : " One unpar- 
donable fault, the fault of tediousness, pervades the ' Faery 
Oueene.' We become sick of cardinal virtues and deadly 
sins, and long for the society of plain men and women. 
Of the persons who read the first canto, not one in ten 
reaches the end of the first book, and not one in a hundred 
perseveres to the end of the poem." 

No poetry is more uniformly and exquisitely musical 
than Spenser's. The richness of the sound and the sweet- 
ness of the rhythm would make the verse enervating were 
he not a master who modulates the sounds and paints the 
pictures for the fancy. The sonorous, grand stanza in- 
vented by him, and called after him the Spenserian, con- 
sists of nine lines and is formed by adding an Alexandrine 
to Chaucer's stanza of eight lines. 

Many subsequent poets have been indebted to Spenser 
for much of their inspiration ; Pope, Addison, Cowley, 
Gray and Collins acknowledge their obligations to him. 
Some idea of the depth and richness of his imagination 
may be gained from the following extracts : 



ELIZABETHAN PERIOD. 51 

THE CAVE OF MAMMON. 
(From "The Faery Queene." Book II, Canto VII.) 

At length they came into a larger space 

That stretched itself into an ample plain, 
Through which a beaten broad highway did trace 

That straight did lead to Pluto's grisly reign, 
By that way's side there sat infernal Pain, 

And fast beside him sat tumultuous Strife. 
The one in hand an iron whip did strain, 

The other brandished a bloody knife, 

And both did gdash their teeth and both did threaten 
Life. 

Before the door sat self-consuming Care, 

Day and night keeping wary watch and ward, 
For fear lest Force or Fraud should unaware 

Break in and spoil the treasure there in guard. 
Nor would he suffer Sleep once thitherward 

Approach, although his drowsy den were next, 
For next to death is sleep to be compared ; 

Therefore his house is unto his annexed ; 

Here Sleep, there Riches, and hell-gate them betwixt. 

Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626). 

" I reverence him for the greatness that was only proper to 
him; he seemed to me ever, by his work, one of the greatest 
men and most worthy of admiration that had been for ages. 
In his adversity I ever prayed God would give him strength; 
for greatness he could not want."— Ben Jonson. 

Francis Bacon was the younger and favorite son of 
Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord-keeper of the Great Seal of 
England and one of the statesmen who gave the reign of 
Elizabeth its glory. His mother, Anne, daughter of Sir 
Anthony Cook, was a woman of stern integrity of char- 
acter, " exquisitely skilled in the Latin and Greek 
tongues." Under parental influences in which were 



52 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

blended dignity, intelligence and refinement, in the ele- 
gance of an English nobleman's palace, amid the associa- 
tions of cultivated society, he had opportunity for the de- 
velopment of courtiership, self-esteem, observation and 
thoughtfulness. He was born in 1561, and during his 
boyhood he was very delicate, though his mind was pre- 
cocious. Queen Elizabeth was fond of him, often calling 
him her little lord-keeper. He was sent to Trinity College, 
Cambridge, at the age of thirteen, and left there before he 
was sixteen, in order to live in France as an attache of 
the English ambassador. During the two years he spent 
upon the continent, he was observant and studious, and 
was interested in collecting material for his first literary 
work, " Of the State of England." In 1579 he returned 
to England, and owing to the death of his father, he 
adopted the profession of the law, and became distin- 
guished in it, although it was to him a secondary object. 
In 1584 he entered Parliament, where he was recognized 
as a masterly orator. Ben Jonson says : " No man ever 
spoke more neatly, more weightily or suffered less idle- 
ness in what he uttered. He commanded where he spoke, 
and had his judges angry and pleased at his devotion. No 
man had their affections more in his power. The fear of 
every man that heard him was lest he should make an 
end." He offended the queen by one of his speeches, and 
although she never treated him unkindly, she. refused to 
give him an office. 

-Bacon was seriously deficient in moral sensibility. In 
his political life, he degraded himself, and injured his 
country and posterity by tarnishing the honorable tradi- 
tions of the bench. In 1621 there were twenty-three 
specific acts of corruption charged against him, to all 
of which he pleaded guilty, saying to the judges: "I 




LORD FRANCIS BACON. 



ELIZABETHAN PERIOD. 55 

beseech your lordships to be merciful to a broken reed." 
His principal offense was the taking of presents from 
persons who had suits in his court, in some cases while 
the suits were still pending. He was sentenced to pay 
a fine of £40,000 ; to be imprisoned in the Tower during 
the king's pleasure ; to be forever incapable of sitting in 
Parliament or holding office in the state. The king re- 
mitted his fine and imprisonment. Bacon admitted the 
justice of his sentence, but always denied that he had 
been an unjust judge. 

Although he was a voluminous writer, Bacon's literary 
work is largely fragmentary. His two greatest works are 
the " Essays " and the " Novum Organum." In the 
" Novum Organum " he explains the inductive method 
of reasoning, and dwells on the necessity of experiments 
in the, study of natural science. 

As specimens of intellectual activity, of original think- 
ing and aptness of illustration, the " Essays " surpass any 
other writing of equal extent in our literature. Hallam 
says : " Few books are more quoted, and it would be 
somewhat derogatory to a man of the slightest claim to 
polite letters were he unacquainted with the ' Essays ' of 
Bacon. They illustrate the author's comprehensive mind 
and his wonderful power of condensing thought. In his 
style there is that same quality which is applauded in 
Shakespeare — a combination of the intellectual and imag- 
inative, the closest reasoning in the boldest metaphor. 

Ben Jonson (1573-1637). 

" Ben Jonson possessed all the learning that was wanting 
to Shakespeare, and wanted all the genius which the other 
possessed." — David Hume. 

"Many were the wit combats betwixt him (Shakespeare) 
and Ben Jonson ; which two I beheld like a Spanish great galleon 



56 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

and an English man-of-war; Master Jonson, like the former, 
was built for higher learning; solid, but slow in his perform- 
ances. Shakespeare, with the English man-of-war, lesser in 
bulk, but lighter in sailing, could turn with all tides, tack about 
and take advantage of all winds by the quickness of his wit and 
invention." — Thomas Fuller. 

Ben Jonson, the contemporary and friend of Shakes- 
peare, was born in London in 1573, and died there in 
1637. Although compelled by his step-father to follow 
the trade of brick-layer, he succeeded in making himself 
one of the most learned men of the age. He entered the 
army and served a campaign in Flanders, where he dis- 
tinguished himself by his courage. We next find him at 
the age of twenty, an actor in one of the minor theaters. 
Personally unattractive, his success as a theatrical per- 
former was not great. 

It is not known when he began to write, but " Every 
Man in His Humor " was popular in 1596. At first it was 
a failure, but Shakespeare, then at the height of his popu- 
larity, suggested changes in the play and secured its 
acceptance by the managers of Blackfriars. Thus was 
laid the foundation of that sincere and enduring attach- 
ment between the two poets. The zenith of Jonson's 
prosperity was reached between 1603 an d 161 6. In 16 16 
he received the office of laureate, with an annual pension 
of one hundred marks. The following year his wife died ; 
most of his children died young, and none survived him. 
His last years were spent in poverty and neglect, owing to 
his ill-health, his improvidence and the revengeful dis- 
position of some powerful enemies. He died in 1637, 
regretting the occasional irreverences of his pen, and 
deploring the frequent abuse of powers which were given 
for nobler ends. He was buried in an upright posture 



ELIZABETHAN PERIOD. 57 

in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. Above his 
grave a plain stone bears the words, " O, rare Ben Jon- 
son ! " 

In person Jonson was large and fleshy, and of fair 
complexion, but a scrofulous affection had scarred his 
face. In manners he was boisterous, dictatorial and 
egotistical ; but he was also warm-hearted. His memory 
was remarkable ; at the age of forty he could repeat every- 
thing he had ever written. He was an excellent reader 
of character, and his knowledge of human nature was 
profound. Mis faults were the typical faults of the con- 
ceited man ; he was egotistical, self-willed and overbear- 
ing, but he was at the same time frank, generous and 
truly upright. 

His dramatic works range from excellence to medi- 
ocrity. His best dramas are the " Alchemist," " Epicene " 
and " Volpone," but these are marred by many gross 
features. He wrote only two tragedies, " Sejanus " and 
" Catiline," both severely classical. The last appearance 
of Shakespeare as an actor was in " Sejanus," in 1603. 
As a writer of Masques, composed for the amusement of 
the king and the great nobles, he is without an equal. 

Robert Southwell (1562-1595). 

" In the poems of Southwell there is a liberal use of trope, 
metaphor, similitude and all such poetic devices; but the deep, 
strong, loving heart beneath sanctifies and excuses the extrav- 
agance, if any there be, in the language." — Thomas Arnold. 

" Southwell shows in his poetry great simplicity and elegance 
of thought and still greater purity of language. He has been 
compared to Goldsmith, and the comparison seems not unjust." 
— Angus. 

Chief among the writers of religious poetrv stands 
Robert Southwell. He was born at Horsham, St. Faith's, 



58 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Norfolk, in 1560, of an ancient and wealthy Catholic 
family. While still very young he was sent to the Eng- 
lish coilege at Douay, where his amiable disposition and 
gentle manners won him every heart. In 1857 he entered 
the Society of Jesus at Rome, and was ordained priest in 
1584. At his request the perilous duty of the English 
mission was assigned to him, and while faithfully dis- 
charging his sacred office, he was apprehended by an agent 
of Queen Elizabeth. For three years he was kept in a 
loathsome prison, and he led a life as horrible as cruel 
confinement, want and filth, and torture beyond descrip- 
tion could make it. Repeatedly the parents of Father 
Southwell begged that he might be brought to trial, even 
that he might be put to death rather than endure longer 
the barbarous treatment to which he was daily subject, 
but all was useless. 

Conscious that he suffered in the holiest of causes, 
Father Southwell met death with calm heroism. His 
works, although written while he was in the Tower, bear 
not the faintest trace of angry feeling against any human 
being or against any institution. Only a true poet's soul, 
under the circumstances, could have found expression in 
songs whose perfect moral beauty bear no trace of re- 
pining at his cruel fate, but express the sentiments of a 
heart too full of love of God to have room for malice 
toward his persecutors. 

Ben Jonson has expressed his admiration of Southwell, 
and praised the " Burning Babe " as a poem of great 
beauty. The prose of Southwell is not less charming than 
his poetry. The " Triumph of Death," written on the 
character of Lady Sackville, and " Mary Magdalen's 
Funeral Tears " are among his best prose pieces. South- 
well was the founder of the modern English style of re- 



ELIZABETHAN PERIOD. 59 

ligious poetry ; his influence and example are evident in 
the works of Crashaw, Donne, Herbert, Waller or any 
of those whose devout lyrics were admired in later times. 
Chaucer had, it is true, shown in the poem called his " A, 
B, C," in honor of the Blessed Virgin, how much the 
English tongue was capable of in this direction, but the 
language was now greatly altered ; and Chaucer, though 
admired, was looked upon as no subject for direct imita- 
tion. 

PROSE WRITERS. 

Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) was the most conspicuous 
courtier of Elizabeth's famous court ; for he was hand- 
some, skillful in all manly games, an accomplished scholar 
and a generous, noble-hearted man. At the battle, or 
skirmish rather, of Zutphen, in Holland, in October, 1586, 
having given a portion of his armor to a fellow officer, he 
was wounded in the thigh by a musket ball. " As he lay 
dying, they brought to him a cup of water. Just as he 
lifted the cup to his lips, he caught the wistful glance of a 
wounded soldier near by, and exclaimed : ' Give it to 
him. His need is greater than mine.' ' He wrote " Ar- 
cadia,'' a prose romance ; " Defense of Poesy," and some 
beautiful sonnets. 

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552=1618) was a navigator, soldier, 
politician, historian and poet. His spirit of adventure 
led him to France and to the Low Countries, and later 
to America. Here he discovered Virginia, which he 
thus called in honor of the queen. With the acces- 
sion of James I. his misfortunes began. He was unjustly 
charged with treason, was tried and sentenced to the 
Tower, where he was imprisoned for thirteen years. Dur- 
ing his imprisonment he wrote his " History of the 
World," and by that work won literary fame. After his 



60 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

release from prison one of his exploits enraged the 
Spaniards, Raleigh was seized upon his return to England, 
and executed under the old sentence of fifteen years' 
standing. When he was brought to the block, he lifted 
the axe of the executioner and ran his fingers along the 
keen edge, smiling as he said : " This is a sharp medi- 
cine, but it will cure all diseases." 

Robert Burton (1576-1640) is the learned author of " The 
Anatomy of Melancholy," a medley of curious quota- 
tions and pleasing anecdotes. Dr. Johnson said of it that 
it was the only book that ever took him out of bed two 
hours sooner than he wished to rise. 

John Lyly (1563=1601) won his reputation by a work 
styled " Euphues ; the Anatomy of Wit." His writings 
exhibit genius, though strongly tinctured with affecta- 
tion, with which he infected the language of conversation 
and even of literature. A specimen of euphuism may be 
found in the language of Sir Piercie Shafton in Scott's 
novel, " The Monastery." 

Nicholas Sander (1527-1581) was at one time Regius Pro- 
fessor of Canon Law in the University of Oxford. After 
his ordination, official duties caused him to visit Trent, 
Louvain and various places in Spain. In 1579, he was 
sent as Papal Nuncio to Ireland, where he was starved 
to death in 1581. His principal work was " The Rise and 
Growth of the Anglican Schism." 

OTHER AUTHORS OF THIS AGE. 

NON-DRAMATIC- POETS. 

Michael Drayton (1553-1631) is Dest known by his work 
entitled " Polyolbion." This is a poetical ramble over 
England and Wales and is unique in literature. The poet 



ELIZABETHAN PERIOD. 61 

in thirty thousand lines describes enthusiastically, but with 
painful accuracy, the rivers, mountains and forests of his 
country, giving also detailed accounts of local legends 
and antiquities. 

George Herbert (1583-1632) was known as "Holy George 
Herbert." He spent his short life in the discharge of 
his professional duties and the composition of two re- 
ligious works : " The Parson," in which he describes the 
duties of a pastor, and " The Church," a series of poems 
distinguished for energy of thought, conciseness of dic- 
tion and spiritual unction. 

Thomas ■Sackville (1536=1608), Earl of Dorset, was one 
of the judicial tribunal that pronounced the doom of Mary 
Stuart; and the Parliament, after having confirmed the 
sentence, commissioned him to bear the sad news to the 
unfortunate queen. His principal works are, his tragedy, 
" Gorboduc," and a poem entitled " Mirror for Magis- 
trates." 

DRAMATIC POETS. 

Christopher Marlowe (1564=1593) is the greatest English 
dramatist that preceded Shakespeare. He is a poet of 
unbridled passion and despair. His chief works are, 
" Tamburlaine, the Great," the " Jew of Malta," the 
" Tragical History of Dr. Faustus " and " Edward the 
Second." The impression is general that Shakespeare 
was indebted to the " Jew of Malta " for his " Merchant of 
Venice ; " but there is no resemblance whatever between 
the two plays either in plot or character. Barabas, the 
Jew, is a horrible monstrosity, while Shylock never ceases 
to be a man. 



62 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Francis Beaumont (1586-1616) and John Fletcher (1576=1625) 

were popular writers in their time. They formed a lit- 
erary partnership, which was continued for ten years. 
They wrote thirty-seven plays, ten of which were trage- 
dies ; but all without exception contain coarse and obscene 
passages. In rank they probably deserve a place next to 
Marlowe. 

Philip Massinger (1584-1640) wrote many plays, of which 
eighteen have survived. One only, " A New Way to 
Pay Old Debts," containing the famous character of Sir 
Giles Overreach, still keeps the stage. At the close of 
a life of poverty, he died in obscurity, and in the notice 
of his death the parish register names him, " Philip Mas- 
singer, a stranger." 



CHAPTER III. 
Civil War Period (1625-1700). 

This was a period of fierce political and religious con- 
troversy. It witnessed the trial and execution of Charles 
L, the wars of the Cavaliers and Roundheads, the rise 
and fall of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, the 
Restoration of the Stuarts and the great Revolution of 
1688 which resulted in the banishment of James II. and 
the enthronement of William and Alary. The entire cen- 
tury was one of change and transition, hence it was not 
favorable to authorship. 

The union of Scotland and England was peacefully ac- 
complished when James VI. of Scotland became James I. 
of England. This first Stuart king had few qualities of a 
ruler ; he was obstinate, conceited, pedantic, weak, mean- 
looking in person, ungainly in manners and so timorous 
as to shudder at a drawn sword. The Catholics naturally 
expected toleration from Mary Stuart's son, but they were 
persecuted more bitterly than ever. In his reign the 
Church of England branched into the " High Church 
party " and the " Puritan party." The Puritan influence, 
stimulated by the persecutions of James L, although it was 
distasteful to a majority of the people, became more and 
more aggressive. In 1576, the influence was barely strong 
enough to compel the building of Blackfriars theater out- 
side of the city walls ; in 1643 ft was strong enough to 
close every theater in the kingdom, and to bury in tem- 
porary oblivion our best and noblest literature. 

Charles I. succeeded to a kingdom divided against 
itself; Parliament and the king were still in conflict. At 

63 



64 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

this time the royalists received the name' of Cavaliers 
from their skill in riding, and the parliamentarians were 
called Roundheads from the Puritan fashion of wearing 
closely cut hair. The strife between the two factions 
became more bitter; civil war became inevitable. Oliver 
Cromwell's military genius secured the triumph of the 
Roundheads ; Charles I. was captured, tried for treason 
and condemned to death. England was now governed 
without kings or lords, authority being vested in the 
diminished House of Commons ; Puritan rule was 
supreme. The condition of affairs that then ensued seems 
incredible ; it was like a change from the bright sunlight 
to the gloom of a funereal vault. With the suppression 
of all forms of innocent amusement, life became somber 
and moody, all human surroundings were made unnat- 
ural. An intense but misguided religious zeal animated 
the party in power. Some parents named their children 
after the great heroes of the Old Testament, and some 
used scriptural sayings for the same purpose. The name 
of the leader of Cromwell's first Parliament was Praise 
God Barebones. 

The despotic rule of Cromwell paved the way for the 
restoration of the monarchy, and in 1660 Charles II. 
was invited to the throne of his ancestors. Although the 
people with other surroundings would probably have 
preferred the continuance of the Commonwealth, they 
hailed the restoration of a Stuart king with a tumult of 
joy. The Puritans had overshot the mark, and, in con- 
sequence, doomed England to the most frivolous reign 
the country had ever experienced. From Puritan auster- 
ity the people now rushed to the opposite extreme of 
levity; the effect of such a revolution was immediate and 
fearful; the nation plunged into excesses. 



CIVIL WAR PERIOD. 65 

The brother of Charles II., James II., the last Catholic 
king of England, came to the throne without opposition. 
His attempts to relieve Catholics from the many disabili- 
ties under which they labored, were made with the indis- 
cretion habitual to his family, and in vain the Pope coun- 
seled moderation. The revolution of 1688 was brought 
about, which resulted in the banishment of James II. and 
the enthronement of William and Mary. 

John Milton (1608-1674). 

" The first place among our English poets is due to Milton." — 
Addison. 

" The old blind poet hath published a tedious poem on the 
Fall of Man. If its length be not considered as a merit it hath 
no other." — Waller. 

" Was there ever anything so delightful as the music of ' Par- 
adise Lost ' ? It is like that of a line organ ; has the fullest and 
the deepest tones of majesty, with all the softness and elegance 
of the Dorian flute ; variety without end, and never equaled unless 
perhaps by Virgil." — Cowper. 

John Milton, the greatest of English poets since Shake- 
speare, was born in 1608 and died in 1674. From child- 
hood he seems to have been conscious of superior powers ; 
and throughout his career, circumstances combined to 
develop his peculiar genius. His first teacher, Thomas 
Young, must have done much toward giving him correct 
habits of study, for when he went to St. Paul's school, 
at the age of twelve, he was soon able to write good 
Latin and Greek verses. At the age of sixteen years he 
was admitted to Christ's College, Cambridge, and after 
eight years left the college, familiar with not only music, 
mathematics, theology and philosophy, but also with 
Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Italian and Spanish. Thus 
the future embodiment of Puritanism was as fine a scholar 
5 



66 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

as England ever produced. The five years succeeding 
his university career he spent at his father's country-seat 
in Horton, a village in Buckinghamshire. Here he dis- 
ciplined his mind with mathematics and the sciences, and 
stored his memory with classical literature. Here also 
he indulged his passionate fondness for music — a fond- 
ness to which the invariably melodious structure of his 
verse, and the majestic harmony of his prose style, bear 
constant testimony. The chief productions of this stu- 
dious retirement were " L' Allegro," an ode to mirth ; " II 
Penseroso," an ode to melancholy ; " Comus," a masque ; 
the " Arcades ; " and " Lycidas," a monody on the death 
of a friend. 

For a period of fifteen months during the years 1638 
and 1639, he traveled on the continent, visiting the prin- 
cipal cities of France, Italy and Switzerland. He seems 
to have made acquaintance with men who were most 
illustrious for genius and learning; he visited Galileo at 
Florence, Grotius at Paris and the Marquis of Villa at 
Naples. After his return to England, he devoted the ten 
following years to teaching boys, for " with Milton, as 
with the whole Calvinistic and Puritan Europe, woman 
was a creature of an inferior and subordinate class." 

At the request of Charles II., then an exile in France, 
Salmasius, an eminent scholar, published a powerful pam- 
phlet in Latin, maintaining the divine right of -kings. 
The Council commanded Milton to undertake a reply. 
Accordingly he prepared his "Defensio pro Populo Angli- 
cano." He was adjudged the superior, and received public 
thanks for the victory won. It is said that the death of 
Salmasius was hastened by the humiliation of defeat. 
Loss of sight had menaced Milton for years, and after 
his work on the preoaration of his argument he became 
hopelessly blind. 




JOHN MILTON. 



CIVIL WAR PERIOD. 69 

Dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, 

Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse, 

Without all hope of day ! " Samson Agonistes." 

After the Restoration, new troubles came upon him ; 
for through tracts and letters he had opposed to the last 
the return of monarchy. A proclamation was issued 
against him, his books were burned by the hangman and 
he was forced to live in concealment until the general 
act of indemnity was passed. From that time until his 
death he lived in retirement, resuming his poetical work, 
which he had practically abandoned in 1637, with the pub- 
lication of " Lycidas." 

In 1643 ne married Mary Powell, but the gloom of her 
new home became unbearable to her, and she returned 
to her father's house. The estrangement continued for 
two years, when his friends effected a reconciliation. In 
1654 his wife died, leaving three daughters, the eldest only 
eight years old. By his two subsequent marriages, Milton 
had no children. His last wife survived him for more 
than half a century. 

His great epic, " Paradise Lost," was published in 1667. 
" Paradise Regained," which is little more than an or- 
dinary paraphrase of the temptation of Christ as found in 
the Gospel ; and " Samson Agonistes," a dramatic poem 
on the capture and death of Samson, w T ere published in 
1670. On the 8th of November, 1674, Milton died. He 
was buried in the church of St. Giles, in the west-central 
part of London, a few squares south of where the British 
Museum now stands. 

Although we know much about Milton, we do not know 
him. In manner he was austere, even to coldness. He 
lived in almost complete isolation after his return from 
Italy, having little or no intercourse with politicians or 



70 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

scholars. His imagination was defective in that warmth 
which could create a bond of sympathy between him and 
other men. Hence he could not, like Shakespeare, por- 
tray natural affections. His intellect predominated over 
his imagination. As a thinker he probably stands next to 
Shakespeare and Bacon. He was neither practical nor 
urbane ; he was aggressive, formed for strife, not hap- 
piness. 

In his early poems Milton is remarkable for beauty and 
perfection of rhythm. The blank verse of " Comus" 
is unexcelled. His best prose work is, perhaps, the " Are- 
opagitica," a strong plea for the freedom of the press, 
although this work lacks the intensity of thought found 
in his controversial pamphlets. " Paradise Lost " has for 
a long time been considered his best poetical work, but 
the opinion seems to be growing that " Comus " is his 
best, while the other is his greatest. " Comus " contains 
the richest fruit of Milton's poetic fancy, while " Paradise 
Lost " was written after youthful fervor had been dead 
for many years. There are passages of grandeur scat- 
tered through the poem, but in spite of all our literary 
pride, it is dull and uninteresting as a whole. Few have 
ever read it all, save as a task. The first two books are 
by far the best. The following is a synopsis of the poem : 

Book I. After the proposition of the subject,, — the Fall 
of Man, — and a sublime invocation, the council of Satan 
and the infernal angels is described. Their determina- 
tion to oppose the designs of God in the creation of the 
earth and the innocence of our first parents is then stated, 
and the book closes with a description of the erection 
of Pandemonium, the palace of Satan. Book II. records 
the debates of the evil spirits, the consent of Satan to 
undertake the enterprise of temptation, his journey to 



CIVIL WAR PERIOD. 71 

the Gates of Hell, which he finds guarded by Sin and 
Death. Book III. transports us to Heaven, where, after 
a dialogue between God the Father and God the Son, 
the latter offers himself as a propitiation for the foreseen 
disobedience of Adam. Book IV. brings Satan to the 
sight of Paradise, and contains the picture of the inno- 
cence and happiness of Adam and Eve. The angels set 
a guard over Eden, and Satan is arrested while endeavor- 
ing to tempt Eve in a dream. He is allowed to escape. 
In Book V., Eve relates her dream to Adam, who com- 
forts her. They are visited by the angel Raphael, sent 
to warn them ; and he relates to Adam the story of the 
revolt of Satan and the disobedient angels. In Book VI. 
the narrative of Raphael is continued. Book VII. is de- 
voted to the account of the creation of the world, given 
by the angel Raphael, at Adam's request. In Book VIII, 
Adam describes to the angel his own state and recollec- 
tions, his meeting with Eve and their union. The action 
of Book IX. is the temptation first of Eve, and then 
through her, of Adam. Book X. contains the judgment 
and sentence of Adam and Eve. Book XL relates the 
acceptance of Adam's repentence by the Almighty, Who, 
however, commands that Adam be expelled from Para- 
dise. Eve laments her exile from Eden. Book XII. 
contains the prophetic picture of the fate of the human 
race from the Flood ; this picture is shown to Adam by 
the archangel Michael. Adam is comforted by the ac- 
count of the redemption of man, and by the destinies of 
the church. The poem terminates with the wandering 
forth of our first parents from Paradise. 

Although the solemnity of the poem should cause 
weariness, it cannot but leave a vivid impression on all 
minds susceptible to fine influences. The stately march of 



72 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

its diction ; the organ-peal with which its versification 
rolls on ; the beautiful illustrations from nature and from 
art ; the brightly colored pictures of innocence and happi- 
ness — these give to the mind images and feelings not 
soon effaced. In alluding to the blending of the simple 
scriptural story with images in " Paradise Lost," Lamar- 
tine pronounces the poem " the dream of a Puritan who 
has fallen asleep over the first pages of the Bible." In 
studying the epic as a sacred poem we are impressed by a 
want of awe and reserve in the handling of religious mys- 
teries. There is heroic grandeur in the Miltonic Satan 
which wins human sympathy. This is wrong, for the 
representation of the devil should be without any tinge of 
good, as the representation of God should be free from 
any tinge of evil. From a religious point of view the work 
is marred by its Arianism. Like Arius, Milton denies our 
Savior's equality with His Father, and consequently 
denies the efficacy of the atonement for the sins of man. 
But we say of this poem what Macaulay says of Milton's 
" Essay on the Doctrine of Christianity : " " The Book, 
were it far more orthodox or far more heretical than it is, 
would not much edify or corrupt the present generation." 

PARADISE LOST.— BOOK II. 

High on a throne of royal state, which far 

Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, 

Or where the gorgeous East, with richest hand, 

Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, 

Satan exalted sat, by merit raised 

To that bad eminence: and, from despair 

Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires 

Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue 

Vain war with Heaven, and, by success untaught, 

His proud imagination thus display'd : 



CIVIL WAR PERIOD. 73 

" Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heaven ! 
For, since no deep within her gulf can hold 
Immortal vigor, though oppress'd and fallen, 
I give not Heaven for lost. From this descent 
Celestial virtues rising will appear 
Wore glorious and more dread than from no fall, 
And trust themselves to fear no second fate. 
Ale, though just right, and the fix'd laws of Heaven, 
Did first create your Leader, next, free choice, 
With what besides, in council or in fight, 
Hath been achieved of merit, yet this loss, 
Thus far at least recover'd hath much more 
Established in a safe unenvied throne, 
Yielded with full consent. The happier state 
In Heaven, which follows dignity, might draw 
Envy from each inferior : but who here 
Will envy whom the highest place exposes 
Foremost to stand against the Thunderer's aim 
Your bulwark, and condemns the greatest share 
Of endless pain? Where there is then no good 
For which to strive, no strife can grow up there 
From faction ; for none sure will claim in Hell 
Precedence — none whose portion is so small 
Of present pain, that with ambitious mind 
Will covet more. With this advantage then 
To union and firm faith and firm accord, 
More than can be in Heaven, we now return 
To claim our just inheritance of old; 
Surer to prosper than prosperity 
Could have assur d us ; and by what best way, 
Whether of open war or covert guile, 
We now debate : who can advise, may speak." 
He ceased; and next him Moloch, scepter'd king. 
Stood up, the strongest and the fiercest spirit 
That fought in Heaven, now fiercer by despair. 
His trust was with the Eternal to be deem'd 
Equal in strength, and rather than be less 
Car'd not to be at all. With that care lost 
AYent all his fear; of God, or Hell, or worse 



74 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

He reck'd not, and these words thereafter spake : 

" My sentence is for open war ; of wiles, 
More unexpert, I boast not; then let those 
Contrive who need, or when they need, not now. 



Ethereal Virtues ! or these titles now 

Must we renounce, and changing style, be call'd 

Prince of Hell ? for so the popular vote 

Inclines, here to continue and build up here 

A growing empire; doubtless, while we dream, 

And know not that the King of Heaven hath doom'd 

This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat 

Beyond his potent arm, to live exempt ♦ 

From Heaven's high jurisdiction, in new league 

Banded against his throne, but to remain 

In strictest bondage, though thus far remov'd 

Under the inevitable curb, reserv'd 

His captive multitude : for he, be sure, 

In heighth or depth, still first and last will reign 

Sole king, and of his kingdom lose no part 

By our revolt, but over Hell extend 

His empire, and with iron scepter rule 

Us here, as with his golden those in Heaven. 

What sit we then projecting peace and war? 

War hath determin'd us, and foil'd with loss 

Irreparable ; terms of peace yet none 

Vouchsaf'd or sought ; for what peace will be given 

To us enslav'd, but custody severe, 

And stripes and arbitrary punishment 

Inflicted? and what peace can we return, 

But to our power, hostility and hate, 

Untam'd reluctance, and revenge, though slow, 

Yet ever plotting how the Conqueror least 

May reap his conquest, and may least rejoice 

In doing what we most in suffering feel? 

Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need, 

With dangerous expedition to invade 

Heaven, whose high walls fear no assault or siege, 

Or ambush from the deep. What if we find 



CIVIL WAR PERIOD. 75 

Some easier enterprise? There is a place 

(If ancient and prophetic fame in Heaven 

Err not), another world, the happy seat 

Of some new race call'd Man, about this time 

To be created like to us, though less 

In power and excellence, but favour'd more 

Of Him who rules above: so was his will 

Pronounc'd among the gods, and by an oath, 

That shook Heaven's whole circumference, confirmed. 

Thither let us tend all our thoughts, to learn 

What creatures there inhabit, of what mould, 

Or substance, how endued, and what their power, 

And where their weakness, how attempted best, 

By force or subtlety. Though Heaven be shut, 

And Heaven's high arbitrator sit secure 

In his own strength, this place may lie expos'd, 

The utmost border of his kingdom, left 

To their defence who hold it. Here perhaps 

Some advantageous act may be achiev'd 

By sudden onset, either with Hell fire 

To waste his whole creation, or possess 

All as our own, and drive, as we were driven, 

The puny inhabitants ; or, if not drive, 

Seduce them to our party, that their God 

May prove their foe, and with repenting hand 

Abolish his own works. This would surpass 

Common revenge, and interrupt his joy 

In our confusion, and our joy upraise 

In his disturbance ; when his darling sons, 

Hurl'd headlong to partake with us, shall curse 

Their frail original, and faded bliss, 

Faded so soon. Advise, if this be worth 

Attempting, or sit in darkness here 

Hatching vain empires." Thus Beelzebub 

Pleaded his devilish counsel, first devis'd 

By Satan, and in part propos'd ; for whence, 

But from the author of all ill, could spring 

So deep a malice, to confound the race 

Of mankind in one root, and earth with Hell 



76 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

To mingle and involve, done all to spite 

The great Creator? But their spite still serves 

His glory to augment. The bold design 

Please'd highly those infernal States, and joy 

Sparkl'd in all their eyes. With full assent 

They vote ; whereat his speech he thus renews : 

"Well have ye judg'd, well ended long debate, 

Synod of gods ! and, like to what ye are, 

Great things resolv'd, which from the lowest deep 

Will once more lift us up, in spite of fate, 

Nearer our ancient seat; perhaps in view 

Of those bright confines, whence, with neighboring arms 

And opportune excursion, we may chance 

Re-enter Heaven ; or else in some mild zone 

Dwell, not unvisited of Heaven's fair light, 

Secure, and at the brightening orient beam 

Purge off this gloom : the soft, delicious air, 

To heal the scar of these corrosive fires, 

Shall breathe her balm. But first, whom shall we send 

In search of this new world? Whom shall we find 

Sufficient? Who shall tempt with wandering feet 

The dark, unbottom'd, infinite abyss, 

Out through the palpable obscure find out 

His uncouth way, or spread his airy flight, 

Upborne with indefatigable wings, 

Over the vast abrupt, ere he arrive 

The happy isle? What strength, what art can then 

Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe 

Through the strict sentries and stations thick 

Of angels watching round? Here he had need 

All circumspection, and we now no less 

Choice in our suffrage; for, on whom we send 

The weight of all, and our last hope, relies." 



Foreign Contemporaries. — English literature during the 
Commonwealth was largely exclusive in its character. 
Although there was great literary activity at the time, it 
did not harmonize with the stern influences then domi- 



CIVIL WAR PERIOD. 77 

nant. The golden age of French literature had begun. 
It seemed as though art, science and every effort of 
genius had been exhausted to make the court of Louis 
XIV. one of the grandest spectacles upon which men had 
ever gazed. The most important names on the literary 
roll at this time are those of Corneille, Moliere, and 
Racine. 

Pierre Corneille was born in Rouen in 1606, and died 
in Paris in 1684. He is the founder of the classical 
drama in France, " Le Cid " being the first French master- 
piece. Voltaire considered " China " the most finished of 
Corneille's tragedies, but the French critics preferred 
" Polyeucte." Dryden referred to the " Edipus " as a 
failure, although the play was popular at the time of its 
production. Corneille's later plays did not equal his early 
ones. 

Moliere was the stage name of Jean Baptiste Poque- 
lin, who was born in Paris in 1622 and died there in 
1673. He studied with the Jesuits in Paris, and was one 
of the most brilliant geniuses of all time. When not yet 
twenty years of age, he followed the court to Narbonne, 
on the memorable trip that witnessed the execution of 
Cinq-Mars, and the last victory of Richelieu. Thirty-one 
of Moliere's dramas remain ; his " Precieuses Ridicules," 
" Misanthrope " and " Tartufe " being considered the 
best. He was a polished versifier, a keen delineator of 
character and a merciless satirist. 

Jean Baptiste Racine was a celebrated French tragic poet, 
who was born at La Ferte-Milon in 1639, an d who 
died at Paris in 1699. His early training in Greek and 
Latin was thorough, and his tastes ran in the direction 
of intellectual pursuits. His first real success as a 
dramatic poet was " Andromaque," which is the initial 



78 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

tragedy in a long series of master-pieces ; among these 
are " Iphigenie," " Phedre," and " Mithridate." He also 
wrote two plays of great lyric beauty dealing with sub- 
jects from the Bible; they are "Esther" and "Athalie." 
Racine was made a member of the French Academy in 
1673. 

English Contemporaries. 

John Dryden (1631-1700). 

" In argument, satire and declamatory magnificence, he is the 
greatest of our poets." — Craik. 

" The matchless prose of Dryden is rich, various, natural, 
animated, pointed, lending itself to the logical as well as to the 
narrative and picturesque; never balking, never cloying, never 
wearying." — Brougham. 

John Dryden was born at Aldwinckle, Northampton- 
shire, of a good Puritan family ; he was educated at 
Trinity College, Cambridge. During the Civil War and 
the Commonwealth, the interests of his friends were iden- 
tified with the Puritan cause, and his association with 
the austere and unpoetical may account for his displaying 
few symptoms of literary precocity. Had the Republican 
rule continued, he might have used his abilities to achieve 
position in the state, without the thought of a poetical 
career, but the Restoration took place just as he was 
ready to enter active life, and as it was necessary for him 
to begin the world on his own account, he chose to begin 
it on the winning side. Accordingly he published an ode 
of welcome to the returning king. 

The revival of the drama had just reopened a lucrative 
field, and Dryden found it expedient to devote himself 
principally to the stage. Within the space of thirty years 
he produced twenty-seven plays, the most popular of 
which are " The Indian Emperor " and " The Conquest of 




JOHN DRYDEN. 



CIVIL WAR PERIOD. 81 

Granada : " but these dramatic efforts were for the most 
part failures and defiled with licentiousness. In 1667 his 
first narrative poem, " Annus Mirabilis," attracted general 
attention. This poem was written to commemorate the 
Plague, the Fire of London and the War with the Dutch. 
His next production was equally fortunate ; this was an 
elaborate, prose " Essay on Dramatic Poetry." His star 
of fortune now rose rapidly. He enjoyed the patronage of 
the king; his income was respectable; he was the oracle 
of scholarly circles ; and he took an active part in public 
affairs. His first and best satire, " Absalom and Achito- 
phel," appeared in 1681, and the enthusiasm with which 
it was received confirmed Dryden's poetical supremacy. 
It was written in the interests of the king's party, attack- 
ing the policy of Chancellor Shaftesbury. As an illus- 
tration of Dryden's keen satire, as well as his historical 
portraiture of character, the following description of 
Achitophel (Shaftesbury) is given: 

Of these the false Achitophel was first; 
A name to all succeeding ages cursed ; 
For close designs and crooked counsels fit; 
Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit; 
Restless, unfixed in principles and place ; 
In power unpleased ; impatient of disgrace ; 
A fiery soul, which, working out its way, 
Fretted the pigmy body to decay, 
And o'er-informed the tenement of clay. 
A daring pilot in extremity; 

Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high 
He sought the storms ; but for a calm unfit, 
Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit. 
Great wits are sure to madness near allied, 
And thin partitions do their bounds divide, 
Else, why should he, with wealth and honor blest, 
Refuse his age the needful hours of rest? 
6 



82 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Punish a body which he could not please ; 
Bankrupt a life, yet prodigal of ease? 
In friendship false, implacable in hate; 
Resolved to ruin or to rule the state. 

to defend the Church of England against the dissenters 
yet it evinced a skeptical spirit in regard to revealed 
religion. In 1686 he became a Roman Catholic. The 
good faith of this conversion has often been called in 
question ; for it coincided suspiciously with the proselyt- 
ing measures of King James. Many circumstances, how- 
ever, tend to prove its sincerity; he patiently suffered 
deprivation and some persecution on account of his new 
faith, he carefully instructed his children in the doctrines 
of the Catholic Church, and he wrote his " Hind and 
Panther " in sympathy with her reverses. " If," says Sir 
Walter Scott, " we are to judge of Dry den's sincerity in 
his new faith by the determined firmness with which he 
retained it, we must allow him to have been a martyr, or 
at least a confessor in the Catholic cause." 

Macaulay says: "A more complete and just estimate 
of Dryden's natural and acquired powers may be formed 
from the ' Hind and Panther ' than from any of his other 
writings." Dryden also published versions of Juvenal and 
Persius, and a still weightier task, his celebrated transla- 
tion of Virgil, published in 1697, which Pope hesitated not 
to characterize as the most noble and spirited translation 
he knew of in any language. The " Ode to St. Cecilia," 
commonly known as " Alexander's Feast," was his next 
effort. It is the loftiest and most imaginative of his com- 
positions, and one of the noblest lyrics in the English 
language. 

As a brief illustration of Dryden's prose, and of the 
artistic skill with which he could praise a nobleman for 



CIVIL WAR PERIOD. 83 

the favor of accepting a dedication, the following to Lord 
Vaughan will, perhaps, be sufficient : 

" That I have always honored yon, I suppose I need not tell 
you at this time of day; for you know I staid not to date my 
respects to you from that title which you now have, and to which 
you bring e. greater addition by your merit, than you receive from 
it by the name ; but I am proud to let others know how long it 
is that I have been made happy by my knowledge of you, because 
I am sure it will give me a reputation with the present age and 
with posterity. And now, my lord, I know you are afraid lest 
I should take this occasion, which lies so fair for me, to acquaint 
the world with some of those excellencies which I have admired 
in you ; but I have reasonably considered that to acquaint the 
world is a phrase of a malicious meaning : for it would imply that 
the world were not already acquainted with them. You are so 
generally known to be above the meanness of my praises that 
you have spared my evidence and spoiled my compliment. Should 
I take for my commonplaces your knowledge both of the old 
and the new philosophy, should I add to these your skill in 
mathematics and history; and yet farther, your being conversant 
with all the ancient authors of the Greek and Latin tongues, as 
well as with the modern, I should tell nothing new to mankind; 
for when I have once but named you, the world will anticipate 
my commendations, and go faster before me than I can follow. 
Be therefore secure, my lord, that your own fame has freed itself 
from the danger of a panegyric, and only give me leave to tell 
you that I value the candor of your nature, and that one char- 
acter of friendliness and, if I may have leave to call it, kindness 
in you, before all those others which make you considerable in the 
nation." 

Although his comedies show considerable wit, he wrote 
them much against his inclination, and because of the 
public demand for them. There are passages of rare 
beauty to be found in these plays ; a few selections only 
are admissible here : 



84 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 



FROM " OEDIPUS." 

Oedipus. — Thus pleasure never comes sincere to man. 
But lent by Heaven upon hard usury : 
And while Jove holds us out the bowl of joy, 
Ere it can reach our lips it's dashed with gall 
By some left-handed god. 

******* 

When the sun sets, shadows that showed at noon 
But small, appear most long and terrible ; 
So when we think Fate hovers o'er our heads, 
Our apprehensions shoot beyond all bounds. 

******* 

Aegoen. — King Polybus is dead. 

Oedipus. — Of no distemper, of no blast he died. 
But fell like autumn fruit that mellowed long; 
Even wondered at because he dropt no sooner. 
Fate seemed to round him up for four-score years, 
Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more, 
Till like a clock, worn out with eating time, 
The wheels of weary life at last stood still. 



FROM "AURENG ZEBE." 

Aureng Zebe. — The world is made for the bold, impious man, 
Who stops at nothing, seizes all he can. 
Justice to merit does weak aid afford, 
But trusts her balance, and neglects her sword. 
Virtue is nice to take what's not her own ; 
And, while she long consults, the prize is gone. 
When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat, 
Yet, fooled with hope, men favor the deceit; 
Trusts on, and think to-morrow will repay: 
To-morrow's falser than the former day, 
Lies worse, and while it says you shall be blessed 
With some new joys, cuts off what we possessed. 
Strange cozenage ! none would live past years again, 
Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain, 



CIVIL WAR PERIOD. 85 

And from the dregs of life, think to receive 
What the first sprightly running could not give. 

Richard Crashaw (1616-1650). 

u Poet and Saint ! to thee alone are given 
The two most sacred names of earth and heaven." — Cowley. 

Richard Crashaw, the son of a London preacher, was 
an eminent religious poet. He was educated at Charter- 
house and at Cambridge, where in 1633 he became a 
fellow of Peterhouse. In 1644 he was expelled from the 
university for not taking the covenant. He became a 
Roman Catholic, and after suffering great hardships from 
poverty in Paris, he was generously aided by his friend 
Cowley. He was appointed one of the canons in the 
Cathedral of Loretto, in Italy ; a position which he re- 
tained until his death in 1650. Cowley dedicated to his 
memory one of the most moving and beautiful elegies ever 
written. 

His fondness for quaint conceits has greatly dimmed 
a poetical reputation which force of thought and depth 
of feeling might otherwise have rendered a very high one. 
His works are characterized by energy of thought, luxu- 
riance of imagination, a wealth of diction and noble devo- 
tional fervor. Among his best productions may be men- 
tioned " Steps to the Temple," " Poemata Latina," " Epi- 
grammata Sacra " and " The Delights of the Muses." 
His latest religious poems were published in 1652 and 
were called " Carmen Deo Nostro." In his " Epigram- 
mata Sacra " is found the well-known verse relating to the 
miracle of Cana. A prize having been offered for the best 
composition on this subject, Crashaw won it by his line: 

Lympha pudica Deum vidit et erubuit. 

The conscious water saw its God and blushed. 



86 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

WITH A PRAYER-BOOK. 

It is an armory of light. 

Let constant use but keep it bright, 

You'll find it yields 
To holy hands and humble hearts 

More words and shields 
Than sin hath snares, or hell hath darts. 

EUTHANASIA. 

Wouldst see blithe looks, fresh cheeks, beguile 

Age? Wouldst see December smile? 

Wouldst see hosts of new roses grow 

In a bed of reverent snow? 

Warm thoughts, free spirits, flattering 

Winter's self into a spring? 

In some wouldst see a man that can 

Live to be old, and still a man? 

Whose latest and most leaden hours 

Fall with soft wings stuck with soft flowers ; 

And when life's sweet fable ends, 

Soul and body part like friends ; 

No quarrels, murmurs, no delay — 

A kiss, a sigh, and so — away; 

This rare one, reader, wouldst thou see? 

Hark, hither ! — and thyself be he. 

ON SAINT TERESA. 

O ! thou undaunted daughter of desires, 

By all thy dower of lights and fires ; 

By all the eagle in thee, all the dove; 

By all thy lives and deaths of love; 

By thy large draughts of intellectual day ; 

And by thy thirsts of love more large than they 

By all thy brim-filled bowls of fierce desire; 

By thy last morning's draught of liquid fire; 

By all the heavens thou hast in him, 

Fair sister of the seraphim; 



CIVIL WAR PERIOD. 87 

By all of him we have in thee, 
Leave nothing of myself in me. 
Let me so read my life, that I 
Unto all life of mine may die. 

Abraham Cowley (1618-1687). 

"Who now reads Cowley? If he pleases yet, 
His moral pleases, not his pointed wit ; 
Forgot his Epic, nay Pindaric art, 
But still I love the language of his heart." 

Abraham Cowley was a remarkable instance of intel- 
lectual precocity ; when but a mere child he had a pas- 
sionate admiration for the " Faery Queene," and his first 
poems were published when he was only fifteen years of 
age. He was ejected from both Cambridge and Oxford 
for being a Royalist ; then having attached himself to the 
suite of Henrietta Maria, he was employed by her in 
Paris for many years as confidential secretary. When the 
Restoration was accomplished, Charles II. forgot the 
fidelity and self-sacrifice of Cowley, who now retired to 
private life at Chertsey on the Thames. He died in 1667 
from the effects of a severe cold caught while he was 
wandering in the damp fields. 

Cowley possessed a remarkably apprehensive under- 
standing, but a feeble character. One reads a few of his 
minor pieces and is dazzled by the daring flights of his 
imagination ; one conceives such a man to be capable of 
the greatest things. Yet it is not so ; the hue of his reso- 
lution is " sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought." He 
began the " Davideis " at Cambridge with the intention of 
producing a great epic on the sufferings and glories of 
David; but he completed no more than four cantos and 
then gave up the design. It needed a more stern deter- 
mination than his to bring such a work to a successful 



88 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

termination. His poetical works are divided into four 
classes : miscellaneous, amatory verses, the " Pindaric 
Odes " and the " Davideis." 

HER NAME. 
With more than Jewish reverence as yet 

Do I the Sacred Name conceal; 
When, ye kind stars, ah ! when will it be fit 

This gentle mystery to reveal? 
"When will our love be named, and we possess 
That christening as a badge of happiness? 

So bold as yet no verse of mine has been, 

To wear that gem on any line ; 
Nor, till the happy nuptial Muse be seen, 

Shall any stanza with it shine. 
Rest, mighty Name, till then ; for thou must be 
Laid down by her, ere taken up by me. 

Then all the fields and woods shall with it ring; 

Then Echo's burden it shall be ; 
Then all the birds in several notes shall sing, 

And all the rivers murmur thee; 
Then every wind the sound shall upward bear, 
And softly whisper't to some angel's ear. 

Then shall thy Name through all my verse be spread 

Thick as the flowers in meadows lie ; 
And when in future times they shall be read 

(As sure, I think, they will not die), 
If any critic doubt that they be mine, 
Men by that stamp shall quickly know the coin. 

Samuel Butler (1612-1680). — Samuel Butler was the son 
of a Worcestershire farmer, and his early life was 
passed in obscurity. Lack of funds shortened his stay 
at Cambridge, still he was there long enough to acquire 
some of the learning displayed in his works. He was for 



CIVIL WAR PERIOD. 89 

several years a clerk in the office of a country justice, 
and afterward became a secretary in the service of the 
Countess of Kent. In these positions he found oppor- 
tunities for study. He lived for some years in the family 
of vSir Samuel Luke, one of Cromwell's commanders. In 
this dignitary, Butler saw the most radical type of Puritan 
character, and he exhibited a caricature of Sir Samuel 
in the celebrated Knight Hudibras, the hero of the famous 
poem. 

The name of Hudibras is taken from the old romances 
of chivalry, Sir Hugh de Bras being one of the knights 
of Arthur's Round Table. The poem is a satire upon the 
Puritans, and he subjects them to a ridicule so keen that 
the work still holds an eminent place in the literature 
of satire. It is written, some say, on the model of " Don 
Quixote," but while Cervantes makes his hero laughable 
without impairing our respect for his character, Butler 
invests his personages with the utmost degree of odium 
compatible with the sentiment of the ludicrous. 

Butler's style is concise and suggestive, and although 
no English author was ever more witty than Butler, he 
is utterly destitute of genial humor. His low wit and the 
vulgarity of his language make the reading of this poem 
a task rather than a pleasure, and the reader would gladly 
exchange it for something more dignified and less spark- 
ling. 

This unfortunate laureate of the Royalists died in 1680 
at a miserable lodging-house in London, not possessing 
sufficient property to pay his funeral expenses. Forty 
years after his death a monument was erected to his mem- 
ory in Westminster Abbey, and this tardy recognition 
gave rise to one of the keenest epigrams in the language : 



90 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

" Whilst Butler, needy wretch, was yet alive, 
No generous patron would a dinner give ; 
See him when starved to death and turned to dust, 
Presented with a monumental bust; 
The poet's fate is here in emblem shown : 
He asked for bread and he received a stone." 

DISTICHS FROM " HUDIBRAS " AND MISCELLANIES. 

Rhyme the rudder is of verses, 

With which like ships they steer their courses. 

In all trade of war no feat 
Is nobler than a brave retreat ; 
For those that run away and fly, 
Take place at least of the enemy. 

He that runs may fight again, 
Which he can never do that's slain. 

Night is the Sabbath of mankind 
To rest the body and the mind. 

Money that, like the swords of kings, 
Is the last reason of all things. 

Opinion governs all mankind, 

Like the blind's leading of the blind. 

Loyalty is still the same, 
Whether it win or lose the game ; 
True as the dial to the sun, 
Although it be not shined upon. 

Things said false and never meant 
Do oft prove true by accident. 

John Bunyan (1628-1688).— John Bunyan was the son 
of a poor Bedford tinker, and followed his father's 
trade until his eighteenth year. He grew up to manhood 



CIVIL WAR PERIOD. 91 

with an education so meager that he barely knew how to 
read and write, and yet he produced a work which places 
him foremost among the writers of his class. At , the 
solicitation of his wife, he joined the Baptist church of 
Bedford, and often availed himself of his journeyings as 
a tinker, to exercise the vocation of a preacher. In No- 
vember, 1660, he was arrested as a non-conformist, and 
was imprisoned in Bedford jail. Although for a portion 
of the time his imprisonment was merely nominal, he 
was not formally liberated for twelve years. During these 
years of confinement he wrote the " Pilgrim's Progress," 
which, next to the Bible, is the work most widely read in 
England. If popularity were the test of excellence, the 
allegory of Bunyan would be ranked above the epic of 
Milton and even above the plays of Shakespeare. 

Bunyan was the author of about sixty works ; of these 
the " Pilgrim's Progress " and " The Holy War " are best 
known. Froude says : " Bunyan was a man of natural 
genius w r ho believed the Puritan form of Christianity to 
be completely true. He knew nothing of philosophy, 
nothing of history, nothing of literature." The habit of 
introspection gave him a self-knowledge ; that made him 
modest, humble and shrinking; and saved him from 
vanity after he became the head of the Baptist community 
in England. 

OTHER AUTHORS OF THIS AGE. 

POETS. 

Robert Herrick (1591=1674) was a fine lyric poet, but 
sometimes coarse. He wrote " Cherry Ripe," " Gather 
Rosebuds While Ye May " and other poems. 



92 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Edmund Waller (1605-1687) enjoyed great popularity. His 
poems are short, polished and refined, but full of ex- 
travagant conceits. 

William Habington (1605 -1654) belonged to a Catholic family 
of good standing, and was a pupil of the Jesuit College of 
St. Omer. The Castara of his verse is his wife, whose 
charms he celebrates in the purest accents of love. 

PROSE WRITERS. 

Izaak Walton (1593-1683) won reputation as a classical 
writer in his popular work, " The Complete Angler." 
He also wrote Lives of Wotton, Herbert and others. 

Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), a quaint and powerful 
writer, was the author of " Religio Medici," a work which 
at once won distinction both at home and abroad. 

Sir William Davenant (1605-1668) had more fame in his 
time than he has preserved. He succeeded Ben Jonson 
as poet-laureate, and a few years later became a Roman 
Catholic. 

Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon (1608-1673), was a states- 
man of great merit and a writer of uncommon ability. 
He wrote an excellent " History of the Rebellion." 

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was a great philosopher. He 
wrote " The Leviathan." 

John Locke (1632-1704) was an eminent philosopher and 
one of the most influential thinkers of modern times. 
His chief work is an " Essay Concerning the Human 
Understanding." 

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), the great mathematician, was 
author of " The Principia." 

Sir William Temple (1628-1699) was a diplomatist and a 
graceful essayist. 



CIVIL WAR PERIOD. 93 

John Evelyn, F. R. S. (1620-1706), wrote " Sylva," a dis- 
course on forest trees, and " Terra," a work on agri- 
culture. 

Samuel Pepys (1632-1703) left an entertaining and impor- 
tant " Diary," which has taken a permanent place in lit- 
erature. 



CHAPTER IV. 
Eighteenth Century (1700-1800). 

Queen Anne's reign was the Augustan age of English 
literature. Questions of party politics, society, life and 
character were discussed ; and wit, ridicule and satire were 
employed as never before. The influence of the old school 
of authors gave way to correctness of form and taste. 
Pope's " Essay on Man " and " Essay on Criticism " are 
still admired. Addison and Steele in their periodicals, 
the Tattler and the Spectator, popularized literature, and 
" brought philosophy," as Steele expressed it, "out of 
libraries, schools, and colleges, to dwell in clubs, at tea- 
tables, and in coffee-houses." Science now spread rap- 
idly on every side; and the application of steam power 
to machinery wrought a revolution in commerce, manu- 
factures, arts and social life. 

A general coarseness existed in society; profanity was 
common. Among the poorer classes, children of five 
years of age were habitually put to work. In mines, 
women and children, crawling on their hands and feet in 
the darkness, dragged wagons of coal fastened to their 
waists by a chain. Military and naval discipline was 
maintained by the lash, and in the streets of every, sea- 
port, the press-gang seized and carried off by force whom 
it pleased to be sailors on the men-of-war. 

In the country the roads were so bad that winter 
traveling was well-nigh impossible. The stage-coach rat- 
tling along in good weather at the rate of four miles an 
94 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 95 

hour was considered a wonderful instance of the progress 
of the times. In all England there were only about 3,000 
schools, public and private, and so late as 18 18 half of the 
children grew up destitute of education. 

This eighteenth century was a period of repose in Eng- 
lish political history. During the whole of this period, 
except in the Jacobite risings of 17 15 and 1745, the nation 
enjoyed profound internal peace. This was the time, it 
might have been imagined, for the fructification of what- 
ever germs of thought the philosophy and poetry of pre- 
ceding ages had implanted. Such, however, was far from 
being the case. The rising of the clans in 1745 divides 
this into two nearly equal portions, of the first of which, 
Pope may be taken as the representative author; of the 
second, Johnson. 

Alexander Pope (1688-1744). 

" Pope's rhymes too often supply the defects of his reasons." 
— Whately. 

" The most striking characteristics of his poetry are lucid 
arrangement of matter, closeness of argument, marvellous con- 
densation of thought and expression, brilliancy of fancy ever 
supplying the aptest * illustrations and language elaborately fin- 
ished almost beyond example." — Alex. Dyce. 

Alexander Pope was born in London of Roman Cath- 
olic parents, in the year 1688. His father, a merchant, 
had acquired sufficient property to retire from business 
and to enjoy the leisure of his rural home near Windsor. 
Pope's physical deformity and feeble health forbade his 
attending the public schools and universities of England ; 
his education was therefore privately conducted. He 
states that a Mr. Walsh told him that there was one way 
of excelling left open to him, for though there had been 
many great poets, there was never one great poet who 



96 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

had been correct. " He advised me to make this my 
study and aim." Pope followed this advice and at sixteen 
years of age his " Pastorals " bore witness to a correct- 
ness, which no one, not even Dryden, had possessed. 
Taine says : " When people observed these choice words, 
these exquisite arrangements of melodious syllables, this 
science of division and rejection, this style so fluent and 
pure, these graceful images rendered still more graceful 
by the diction, and all this artificial and many-tinted gar- 
land of flowers which Pope called pastoral, they thought 
of the first eclogues of Virgil." 

Pope was a man of leisure ; his father had left him a 
fair fortune ; he earned a large sum by translating the 
" Iliad " and " Odyssey ; " he had an income of eight hun- 
dred pounds. Calmly seated in his pretty house at Twick- 
enham, in his grotto, or in the fine garden which he had 
planned, he could polish his writings as long as he chose. 
When he had written a work, he kept it at least two years 
in his desk. From time to time he re-read and corrected 
it ; took counsel of his friends, then of his enemies ; no 
new edition was unamended ; he altered without wearying. 
His first outburst became so recast and transformed that 
it could not be recognized in the final copy. 

Constant ill-health made Pope's temper fretful and irri- 
table. He was a man most peculiar in his appearance ; 
not four feet high, so small that a high-chair was placed 
for him at table, hunchbacked and thin, so weak that he 
was scarce able to hold himself erect, so sensitive to cold 
that he was constantly wrapped in flannels and furs. But 
this unfortunate man had a fine face and a glowing eye; 
in dress he was fastidious, his manners, too, were elegant. 
He had to bear the constant reminder of his physical 
infirmities as he looked upon the stately figures of men 




ALEXANDER POPE. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 99 

who were his companions and literary rivals. On account 
of his helplessness, Pope was specially subject to the in- 
fluence of those who surrounded him. As he was more 
sensitive to ridicule than were others, he was also 
fonder of praise. His tender-hearted mother in satisfying 
his craving" for admiration helped him in his work. Not- 
withstanding his defects of character he secured the warm 
attachment of his friends. The relations between Pope 
and Swift were close and cordial. The famous dean was 
twenty-one years older than Pope, but there must have 
been a strong inherent sympathy between them. Each 
had all the tastes of the author and man of letters ; each 
was audacious and satirical ; each saw through and de- 
spised the hollowness of society. Swift's ambition was 
for power; Pope's for fame. It certainly shows some 
real elevation of soul in both, that two men, each so irri- 
table, and whose very points of resemblance might have 
made it easier for them to come into collision, should have 
remained steady friends for twenty-five years. The wit, 
the elegance, the literary taste and political sentiments 
of Bolingbroke made him the object of Pope's admira- 
tion. An intimate friendship between them brought the 
poet under powerful and pernicious influence. To have 
had his distinguishing weakness nourished by his mother, 
to have been loved by the sturdiest, heartiest and most 
terrible of haters and to have received the patronage and 
praiae of the most dashing, the most attractive and the 
most worthless public man of the time, was Pope's expe- 
rience. 

His relations to Addison were characteristic on both 
sides. Several trifling circumstances conspired to create 
an unpleasant state of feeling between them. Open un- 
friendliness was caused by Pope's assault on John Dennis 

LofC. 



100 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

for his " Remarks oh the Tragedy of Cato." Addison was 
suspected of having made this assault, and in averting sus- 
picion from himself he quietly said that had he answered 
the " Remarks " he would have done it in a gentlemanly 
manner. Pope could not forgive this rebuke; it was too 
severe to be forgotten. Some time later Addison in a 
paper published in the " Freeholder " spoke in high terms 
of Pope's translation of Homer. The poet's susceptible 
nature was touched, and he in turn immortalized Addison 
in the fifth satire: 

"And in our days (excuse some courtly stains) 
No whiter page than Addison remains ; 
He from the taste obscene reclaims our youth, 
And sets the passions on the side of truth ; 
Forms the soft bosom with the gentlest art, 
And pours each human virtue in the heart." 

In religious belief, Pope was a Roman Catholic, and he 
would not let himself be driven or persuaded into any 
act of formal apostasy, but there is scarcely a page of his 
poetry in which the leaven of that skepticism which per- 
vaded the society in which he moved may not be traced. 
The religious indifferentism which he assumed had, un- 
doubtedly, many conveniences, in an age when a pro- 
fession of Catholic faith was repressed by every kind of 
vexatious, penal disability and the literary circle in which 
he lived was composed of Protestants or unbelievers. But 
whatever may have been the aberrations of his life, its 
closing scene was one of earnest faith and pious resigna- 
tion. " The priest who administered the last sacrament 
found his penitent resigned and wrapt up in the love of 
God and man." Such was his fervor in the last hour, 
that he exerted all his strength to throw himself out of 
bed, in order to receive the last sacrament kneeling. He 
calmly expired in May, 1744. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 101 

Pope's " Essay on Criticism," which appeared in 171 1, 
is lacking in originality though not in excellence of judg- 
ment. The " Rape of the Lock " is superior to any other 
mock-heroic composition. The " Dunciad " is incompar- 
ably the finest and most sweeping satire in the whole 
range of English literature. The most noted of his works 
not already mentioned are his pastoral eclogues entitled 
" Windsor Forest," " Moral Essays," and " Letters." 

The " Essay on Man " is an argumentative poem. It 
seems to be a vindication of the ways of Providence in 
the government of the world, yet it makes God the author 
of moral evil, and it takes away human responsibility. 
Apart from its ethical faultiness, the neatness and con- 
ciseness of the language, the melody of the verse and the 
beauty and fidelity of the illustrations prove that if the 
poet has not produced a perfect model of didactic poetry, 
it is simply for the reason that such an object is beyond 
the attainment of man. 

FROM THE "ESSAY ON MAN." 

Know then this truth, enough for man to know, 
" Virtue alone is happiness below." 
The only point where human bliss stands still, 
And tastes the good without the fall to ill ; 
Where only merit constant pay receives, 
Is blest in what it takes and what it gives ; 
The joy unequaled, if its end it gain ; 
And if it lose, attended with no pain : 
Without satiety, though e'er so blest, 
But looks through nature up to nature's God ; 
The broadest mirth unfeeling Folly wears, 
Less pleasing far than Virtue's very tears : 
Good, from each object, from each place required, 
Forever exercised, yet never tired ; 
Never elated, while one man's oppressed; 
Never dejected, while another's blest; 



102 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

And where no wants, no wishes can remain, 
Since but to wish more virtue is to gain. 

See the sole bliss Heaven could on all bestow ! 
Which who but feels can taste, but thinks can know 
Yet poor with fortune, and with learning blind, 
The bad must miss, the good, untaught, will find; 
Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, 
But looks through nature up to nature's God; 
Pursues that chain which links the immense design, 
Joins heaven and earth, and mortal and divine; 
Sees that no being any bliss can know, 
But touches some above and some below; 
Learns from this union of the rising whole, 
The first, last purpose of the human soul ; 
And knows where faith, law, morals, all began, 
All end — in love of God and love of man. 

For him alone, hope leads from goal to goal, 
And opens still, and opens in his soul ; 
Till lengthened on to faith, and unconfined, 
It pours the bliss that fills up all the mind. 
He sees why nature plants in man alone, 
Hope of known bliss, and faith in bliss unknown ; 
Nature, whose dictates to no other kind 
Are given in vain, but what they seek they find; 
Wise is her present : she connects in this 
His greatest virtue with his greatest bliss ; 
• At once his own bright prospect to be blest, 
And strongest motive to assist the rest. 

Self-love thus pushed to social, to divine, 
Gives thee to make thy neighbor's blessing thine. 
Is this too little for the boundless heart? 
Extend it, let thy enemies have part. 
Grasp the whole worlds of reason, life and sense, 
In one close system of benevolence : 
Happier as kinder in whate'er degree, 
And height of bliss but height of charity. 

God loves from whole to parts : but human soul 
Must rise from individual to the whole. 
Self-love but serves the virtuous mind to wake, 
As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake; 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 103 

The center moved, a circle straight succeeds 
Another still, and still another spreads ; 
Friend, parent, neighbor, rirst it will embrace; 
His country next ; and next all human race ; 
Wide and more wide, the o'erflowings of the mind, 
Take every creature in, of every kind ; 
Earth smiles around, with boundless bounty blest, 
And Heaven beholds its image in his breast. 

Come, then, my friend ! my genius ! come along ! 
O master of the poet and the song ! 
And, while the muse now stoops or now ascends, 
To man's low passions or their glorious ends, 
Teach me, like thee, in various nature wise, 
To fall with dignity, with temper rise; 
Formed by thy converse, happily to steer 
From grave to gay, from lively to severe : 
Correct with spirit, eloquent with ease, 
Intent to reason, or polite to please. 
Oh ! while along the stream of time thy name 
Expanded flies, and gathers all its fame, 
Say, shall my little bark attendant sail, 
Pursue the triumph, and partake the gale? 
When statesmen, heroes, kings, in dust repose, 
Whose sons shall blush their fathers were thy foes, 
Shall then this verse to future age pretend 
Thou wert my guide, philosopher and friend? 
That, urged by thee, I turned the tuneful art, 
From sounds to things, from fancy to the heart; 
For Wit's false mirror held up Nature's light ; 
Showed erring pride, whatever is, is right ; 
That reason, passion, answer one great aim ; 
That true self-love and social are the same; 
That virtue only makes our bliss below ; 
And all our knowledge is, ourselves to know. 

Foreign Contemporaries. — In France the eighteenth cen- 
tury was pre-eminently an age of infidelity and skepti- 
cism. Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, as well as Dide- 
rot, D'Alembert and the other liberal thinkers who wrote 



104 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

upon the Encyclopedia, while they urged the doctrines 
of freedom and the natural rights of man, recklessly as- 
saulted, time-honored creeds and institutions. 

In Germany, Lessing, 'Winckelman, Klopstock and 
other patriots, endeavored to create a reaction against 
French influence, but skepticism had become rampant in 
Germany. Among those more immediately in contact 
with the prevailing spirit were Kant, Fichte and Hegel. 

Kant is the founder of modern transcendentalism. 
He taught that we can only know phenomena, that the 
noumenon of essence is beyond our knowing, that time 
and space are mere subjective conditions of thinking. He 
created an abyss between the metaphysical reason and the 
practical reason, and then attempted to reconcile them 
over the chasm. 

Fichte destroyed all objectivity, and basing all knowl- 
edge upon the Ego — self — he found himself incom- 
petent to assert more than his own identity, and he thus 
ended in subjective pantheism. 

Hegel taught that all nature, both, the material and 
spiritual world, is a manifestation of the Idea which he 
calls reason in philosophy, and the world-spirit in history. 
In his philosophy, we are parts of the great whole — 
the all-absorbing Absolute, necessitated by our nature to 
seek freedom for freedom's sake, and for the benefit 
of those coming after us ; and after our share of the 
work shall have been accomplished, we will be merged 
into the primordial substance whence we emanated. He 
ignores the most strongly attested principles of thought 
and existence, and heeds not the loudest asseverations of 
human nature concerning its future destiny, the immortal 
spark that gives it life and the personal God from whom 
it came. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 105 

English Contemporaries. 
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). 

" The most agreeable companion, the truest friend, and the 
greatest genius of his age." — Addison. 

" Swift was in person tall, strong and well made, of a dark 
complexion, but with blue eyes, black and bushy eyebrows, nose 
somewhat aquiline and features which well expressed the stern, 
haughty and dauntless turn of his mind. He was never known 
to laugh, and his smiles are happily characterized by the well- 
known lines of Shakespeare : 

' Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort 
As if he mocked himself, and scorned his spirit 
That could be mov'd to smile at anything.' 
Indeed, the whole description of Cassius might be applied to 
Swift."— Sir Walter Scott. 

Jonathan Swift, or Dean Swift, as he is usually called, 
was born in Dublin of English parents. His father died 
in poverty, and Swift as a child became dependent upon 
the precarious charity of relatives. His uncle sent him to 
Trinity College, Dublin, and here after irregular and 
desultory study he received his degree in 1685 with the 
unfavorable notice that it was conferred as a special favor, 
indicating that his conduct had not satisfied the college 
authorities. 

In 1688 he became secretary to Sir William Temple, and 
here, with a salary of twenty pounds a year, he spent ten 
years amidst the humiliations of servitude and the famil- 
iarity of the servants' hall. This life was galling to 
Swift's haughty spirit, but he employed his leisure mo- 
ments in study and extensive reading, thus correcting the 
defects of his earlier education. Cn the death of Sir 
William Temple, Swift became the literary executor of his 
patron, and prepared numerous works for the press. 
These, with a preface and dedication written by himself, 



106 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

he presented to William III., expecting an appointment, 
but he got nothing, and fell back upon the position of 
chaplain to the Earl of Berkely. The earl promised him 
the Deanery of Derry, but gave it to another. Driven to 
politics, Swift wrote in the interests of the Whig party a 
pamphlet, " Dissensions in Athens and Rome," and re- 
ceived from Lord Halifax and other party leaders, a score 
of line promises which were never fulfilled. 

" The Tale of a Tub," his first important work, was 
published in 1704, but was written in 1696. It is one of 
the wittiest and coarsest polemical works ever written. 
The title as explained by Swift means that, as sailors 
throw out a tub to a whale to keep him amused, and to 
prevent him from running foul of their ship, so, in this 
treatise, his object is to afford such temporary diversion 
to the wits and freethinkers of the day as may restrain 
them from injuring the state by propagating wild theories 
in religion and politics. It is a savage pasquinade ridicul- 
ing the Roman Catholics and Presbyterians and exalting 
the High Anglican party. 

" The Battle of the Books " is Swift's contribution to 
the controversy on the respective merits of classical and 
modern literature. 

His advocacy of Whig principles, never very hearty, 
came to an end in 17 10. He regarded Ireland with detes- 
tation and was eager for a promotion that would enable 
him to reside in England. But his hopes were not fulfilled ; 
he therefore abandoned his party, and became a Tory. 
He now used all his powers of sophistry and all the stores 
of his fancy to kindle a feeling of enthusiasm for the 
Tory statesmen. As a reward he received the Deanery 
of St. Patrick, Dublin. He was received with contempt 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 107 

in Ireland, but after he had written the famous " Drapier 
Letters," the tide of feeling turned in his favor. These 
letters, signed M. B. Drapier, were inserted in a Dublin 
newspaper. The occasion was the attempt of the English 
ministry to force the circulation of copper money in Ire- 
land. Swift persuaded the people not only to refuse to 
take it, but to refrain from using any English manufac- 
tures whatever. It was about this time that he wrote 
" Gulliver's Travels," ostensibly a tale, in reality a political 
pamphlet. It exhibits a singular mixture of misanthropy, 
satire and humor, together with unpardonable grossness. 
The " Journal to Stella " is a curious and intimate cor- 
respondence with Esther Johnson, a beautiful young girl 
who resided with the Temple family, and to whom Swift 
gave instruction. They were privately married in 1716. 
The poem " Cademus and Vanessa " was addressed to 
Hester Vanhomrigh, a lady whose intellectual education 
he directed, and who conceived for him an ardent passion, 
which he described, while he checked, in this poem. The 
disappointment of her hopes, added to the discovery of his 
private marriage to Stella, brought poor Vanessa to the 
grave. The death of Stella, one of the few beings whom 
he ever really loved, happened in 1728; and the loss of 
many friends further contributed to intensify the gloom 
of his spirit. He had suffered occasionally from giddi- 
ness, and after Stella's death the attacks were more fre- 
quent and more severe. Deafness deprived him of the 
pleasure of conversation. Forebodings of insanity tor- 
mented him until they were cruelly verified. In 1741 he 
passed into a state of idiocy that lasted without interrup- 
tion until his death, in 1745. He is buried in the Cathedral 
of St. Patrick and over his grave is inscribed that terrible 



108 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

epitaph composed by himself, in which he speaks of rest- 
ing " ubi saeva indignatio ulterius cor lacerare nequit." * 
Swift will ever be regarded as one of the masters of 
English prose, and his poetical works will give him a 
place among the poets of the age. 

FROM THE "CONDUCT OF THE ALLIES." 

" But, when the war was once begun there soon fell in other 
incidents here at home, which made the continuance of it neces- 
sary for those who were the chief advisers. The Whigs were at 
that time out of all credit or consideration ; the reigning favorites 
had always carried what was called the Tory principle at least 
as high as our constitution could bear, and most others in great 
employments were wholly 'in the church interest. These last, 
among whom several were persons of the highest merit, quality. 
and consequence, were not able to endure the many instances of 
pride, insolence, avarice, and ambition which those favorites 
began so early to discover, nor to see them presuming to be the 
sole dispensers of the royal favor. However, their opposition was 
to no purpose; they wrestled with too great a power, and were 
crushed under it. For those in possession, finding they could 
never be quiet in their usurpations while others had any credit 
who were at least upon an equal foot of merit, began to make 
overtures to the discarded Whigs, who would be content with any 
terms of accommodation. Thus commenced this Solemn League 
and Covenant, which hath ever since been cultivated with so much 
zeal and application. The great traders in money were wholly 
devoted to the Whigs who had first raised them. The army, the 
court and the treasury continued under the old despotic admin- 
istration; the Whigs were received into employment, left to man- 
age the Parliament, cry down the landed interest and worry the 
church. Meantime our allies who were not ignorant that all this 
artificial structure had no true foundation in the hearts of the 
people, resolved to make their best use of it as long as it should 
last. And the general's credit being raised to a great height at 
home by our success in Flanders, the Dutch began their gradual 



Where fierce indignation no longer lacerates the heart. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 109 

impositions, lessening their quotas, breaking their stipulations, 
garrisoning the towns we took for them, without supplying their 
troops, with many other infringements, all which we were forced 
to submit to, because the general was made easy, because the 
moneyed men at home were fond of the war, because the Whigs 
were not yet firmly settled and because the exorbitant degree of 
power which was built upon a supposed necessity of employing 
particular persons would go off in a peace. It is needless to 
add that the emperor and other princes followed the example of 
the Dutch, and succeeded as well for the same reasons." 

Joseph Addison (1672-1719). 

" Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not 
coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and 
nights to the volumes of Addison." — Samuel Johnson. 

Joseph Addison, the son of Lancelot Addison, a clergy- 
man of some reputation, was born at Milston in Wiltshire, 
in 1672. In his early years he was sent to the Charter- 
house school, and when fifteen years of age he entered 
Oxford, where he distinguished himself by his scholar- 
ship and by his taste for Latin poetry. In his twenty- 
second year he made his first attempt in English verse; 
this was an "Address to Dryden," by which the old poet's 
friendship was won. A eulogistic poem on William III., 
gained for the young author a pension of three hundred 
pounds. He at once left England that he might cultivate 
his tastes by travel. Soon after his return he published 
his " Travels in Italy," a work which displays great hos- 
tility to Catholicism. The death of William III. deprived 
Addison of his pension, and he returned to London, 
where he lived in poverty, but with that dignified patience 
and quiet reserve which made his character so estimable. 

His next composition was the " Campaign," a poem 
celebrating the victory of Blenheim. It was written at the 
request of Godolphin, then lord treasurer, who when he 



110 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

saw the passage in which Addison compares the victo- 
rious Marlborough to an angel guiding the whirlwind, 
immediately made Addison a commissioner of appeals. 
The famous passage runs thus : 

" So when an angel by divine command, 
With rising tempests shakes a guilty land, 
Such as of late o'er pale Britannia past, 
Calm and serene he drives the furious blast, 
And, pleased the Almighty's orders to perform, 
Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm." 

From the writing of that successful poem, the career 
of Addison was brilliant and prosperous. He was ap- 
pointed under-secretary of state, and afterward chief sec- 
retary for Ireland. 

Addison won no distinction as a member of the House 
of Commons, or as a public officer. His timidity pre- 
vented him from speaking with effect, and his powers of 
conversation deserted him when in the presence of more 
than two or three hearers. In 1 716, he married the Count- 
ess Dowager of Warwick, to whose son he had been 
tutor, but the union seems not to have added to the hap- 
piness of either. He would often escape from the elegance 
of Holland House to spend his days and nights with old 
friends in the clubs and coffee-houses. He died at the 
early age of forty-seven. A distressing asthma had 
afflicted his closing years, and other trials had attended 
him; but his serene and gentle spirit lost none of its 
patience. 

The fertility of invention displayed in his charming 
papers published in the Tattler, Spectator and Guardian, 
the variety of their subjects, and the felicity of their treat- 
ment will ever place them among the masterpieces of 




JOSEPH ADDISON 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 113 

fiction and of criticism. His delineations of character are 
wonderfully delicate. That inimitable personage, Sir 
Roger de Coverley, is a perfectly finished picture worthy 
of Cervantes or of Walter Scott. His tragedy of " Cato " 
is strictly classical in form, but is stiff and frigid. It is 
now comparatively neglected, although it abounds with 
fine passages. As a poet, Addison does not take the high- 
est rank. 

CATO'S SOLILOQUY. 

It must be so — Plato, thou reasonest well — 

Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, 

This longing after immortality? 

Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror 

Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the Soul 

Back on herself, and startles at destruction? 

'Tis the Divinity that stirs within us ; 

'Tis Heaven itself that points out a hereafter, 

And intimates eternity to man. 

Eternity ! thou pleasing, dreadful thought ! 

Through what variety of untried being, 

Through what new scenes and changes must we pass ! 

The wide, th' unbounded prospect lies before me; 

But shadows, clouds and darkness rest upon it. 

Here will I hold. If there's a power above us, 

(And that there is, all Nature cries aloud 

Through all her works), he must delight in virtue; 

And that which he delights in must be happy. 

But when or where? — This world was made for Caesar, 

I'm weary of conjectures — this must end 'em. 

Thus am I doubly armed. My death and life, 
My bane and antidote are both before me. 
This in a moment brings me to an end; 
But this informs me I shall never die. 
The Soul secured in her existence, smiles 
At the drawn dagger and defies its point: 
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself 
Grow dim with age, and Nature sink in years ; 
8 



114 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, 

Unhurt amidst the war of elements, 

The wreck of matter, and the crash of worlds. 

Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729). 

Sir Richard Steele, the associate and friend of Addison, 
was born in Dublin in 1672. Under the patronage of the 
Duke of Ormonde he was placed in the Charterhouse 
school, and there made his first acquaintance with Addi- 
son, whose diligence and success he admired but failed 
to imitate. He entered Oxford, but after a short stay- 
there enlisted in the Horse-Guards. This rash act cost 
him a fortune, for on account of this a wealthy relative 
revoked a will which would have made Steele a rich man. 
Though he led a life of dissipation, his benevolence was 
deep, and his aspirations were lofty ; but his passions were 
strong, and he was always ready to sacrifice his welfare 
for the whim of the moment. When he became a captain 
in Lucas's Fusiliers, he astonished the town by his wild 
extravagance, but for this he was not without remorse. 
He wrote a moral treatise entitled " The Christian Hero," 
which contained the loftiest sentiments of piety and vir- 
tue. He intended this work to be an expression of his 
reform, and a means of effecting it, but the taunts of his 
fellow-officers made him fall back into his old habits. 

Being an ardent partisan pamphleteer he was employed 
by the Whigs to write the Gazette during the war of 
the Spanish succession. The nature of his employment 
suggested the design of the Tattler, a tri-weekly sheet, 
giving the latest items of news and with them a tale or 
an essay. Thus to Steele belongs the credit of having 
founded English periodical literature. The success of 
the Tattler being decisive, it was followed by the 
Spectator, the plan of which was projected by Addison, 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 115 

assisted by Steele. Steele's essays, though teeming with 
originality and freshness, lack the finish and grace which 
mark those of Addison. Nature had done more for 
Steele ; Addison's steady application to his art more than 
compensated for his lesser gifts of genius. 

Steele figured prominently in the politics of the time ; 
he became a member of Parliament, but was expelled for 
seditious language. Under George I., his zeal was re- 
warded by knighthood, and he had several lucrative ap- 
pointments, but his extravagance and his carelessness 
in money matters kept his purse empty. Early in his 
literary career he produced three comedies, which had 
little success. His last literary work was " The Conscious 
Lovers," a comedy which was received with great en- 
thusiasm in 1722. The last years of his life were spent in 
Wales, on a small estate left to him by indulgent cred- 
itors. Here he died of paralysis in 1729. 

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) 

" A mass of genuine manhood." — Carlyle. 

" The special title of moralist in English literature is accorded 
by the public voice to Johnson, whose bias to Catholicity is well 
known." — Cardinal Newman. 

.Samuel Johnson was born at Lichfield in 1709. His 
father was a native of Derbyshire, but had settled in Lich- 
field as a bookseller. After having received the rudiments 
of a classical education at various country schools, he 
entered Pembroke College, Oxford, in the year 1728. 
His father about this time suffered heavy losses in busi- 
ness, in consequence of which Johnson had to struggle 
for many years against the deepest poverty. Nor were 
either his mental or bodily constitution so healthful and 
vigorous as to compensate for the frowns of fortune. 



JM 



116 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Leaving the University, he attempted to support him- 
self by teaching, but he was unsuccessful and turned his 
attention to literary work. In 1735 he married a Mrs. 
Porter, a widow, and going to London he contributed 
many papers to the Gentleman's Magazine. From 1747 
to 1755 he was engaged in the preparation of his most 
famous work, "A Dictionary of the English Language." 
He had promised to complete it in three years ; but the 
labor was arduous, and seven years were spent in getting 
its pages ready for the printer. 

The once famous moral tale, " Rasselas, Prince of Abys- 
sinia," he wrote in the nights of one week to defray the 
expenses of his mother's funeral. The manners and 
scenery of the story are not those of Abyssinia nor of any 
other country, and the book is but a series of reflections 
embodying the author's ideas on a great variety of sub- 
jects. Johnson said that had he seen the " Candide " of 
Voltaire he should not have written " Rasselas," as {he 
two works go over the same ground, both picturing a 
world full of misery and sin. But Voltaire uses the fact 
to excite a sneer at religion ; Johnson, on the contrary, as 
an argument for our faith in a coming immortality. 

Johnson founded and carried on alone, two periodical 
papers in the style that Addison and Steele had rendered 
so popular. These, the Rambler and the Idler, together 
with other works which appeared from time to time, and 
above all, his unrivaled excellence as a talker, made his 
company eagerly sought after by persons of all ranks. 
After the accession of George III., he received a pension 
of three hundred pounds a year. In 1781 he published 
" The Lives of the Poets." It abounds in passages of the 
finest criticism, but the choice of lives was determined by 
the likelihood of popularity; many of the greatest names 




SAMUEL JOHNSON. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 119 

in our literature have been omitted. Among his poems, 
the satire called " London," an imitation of the third satire 
of Juvenal, and the didactic poem on " The Vanity of 
Human Wishes," are the most deserving of notice. 

He was for many years haunted by a morbid fear of 
death, but when the dread moment approached, he became 
unusually patient and gentle. He ceased to think with 
terror of death and of that which lies beyond death and 
trusted in the mercy of God. He died on the 13th of 
December, 1784, and a week afterward was buried in 
Westminster Abbey. 

Johnson's character shows a blending of prejudice and 
liberality, of skepticism and cruelty. In common breed- 
ing he was sadly lacking ; his dress, his motion, his voice, 
his face, his manner of eating — all were offensive. The 
blending of greatness and meanness puzzles us until we 
remember that his severe schooling in poverty developed 
the noble and the adverse traits together. When, weary 
and lame, he reached the top of the ladder by which he 
had climbed from obscurity to fame, he had brought with 
him the offensive traits of his lowly life. His style was so 
peculiar that it has received the distinguishing name of 
" Johnsonese." Short words had no charm for him, 
sonorous Latin derivatives and carefully elaborated sen- 
tences were marshaled in honor of his thoughts. Gold- 
smith once said to him : " If you were to write a story 
about little fishes, Doctor, you would make the little fishes 
talk like whales." In fact his thought is developed with 
the regularity and splendor of a procession. His famous 
letter to Lord Chesterfield is in striking contrast with his 
general style. 



120 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

" My Lord : I have lately been informed by the proprietor of 
the World that two papers in which my Dictionary is recom- 
mended to the public were written by your lordship. To be so 
distinguished is an honor which, being little accustomed to favors 
from the great, I know not well how to receive nor in what terms 
to acknowledge. Seven years, my lord, have now passed since I 
waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door ; 
during which time I have been pushing on my work through diffi- 
culties of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it at 
last to the verge of publication, without one act of assistance, one 
word of encouragement, one smile of favor. * * * The notice 
which you have been pleased to take of my labors, had it been 
early, had been kind ; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent 
and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till 
I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical 
asperity not to confess obligations when no benefit has been re- 
ceived, or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as 
owing that to a patron which Providence has enabled me to do 
for myself. Having carried on my work thus far with so little 
obligation to any favorer of learning, I shall not be disappointed 
though I should conclude it, if less be possible, with less ; for I 
have long been wakened from that dream of hope in which I once 
boasted myself with so much exultation, my lord. 

" Your lordship's most humble, most obedient servant, 

" SAMUEL JOHNSON." 

As a man Johnson possessed admirable traits of char- 
acter. His heart was tender to those who wanted relief, 
and his soul was susceptible of gratitude and of every kind 
impression. His veracity, in the most trivial as in the most 
solemn occasions, was strict even to severity, and he 
scorned to embellish a story with fictitious circumstances. 
His stern integrity, his love of argument and of society, 
his repartee and brow-beating, all helped to make him a 
man of mark in his time. But his mind is not seen in its 
full light, if we do not add to the productions of his pen, 
the record of his colloquial wit and eloquence and the 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 121 

complete portraiture, both inward and outward, preserved 
in the pages of his biographer, Bos well. 

Johnson's poem on the " Vanity of Human Wishes " is 
an imitation of the tenth Satire of Juvenal. The striking 
passage on Hannibal (" Expende Hannibalem," etc.) is 
transferred to Charles XII. of Sweden. The lines will 
bear quotation: 

On what foundation stands the warrior's pride, 

How just his hopes let Swedish Charles decide; 

A frame of adamant, a soul of fire, 

No dangers fright him, and no labors tire; 

O'er love, o'er fear, extends his wide domain, 

Unconquered lord of pleasure and of pain ; 

No joys to him pacific scepters yield, 

War sounds the trump, he rushes to the field ; 

Behold surrounding kings their pow'rs combine, 

And one capitulate, and one resign; 

Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain ; 

" Think nothing gained," he cries, " till naught remain ; 

On Moscow's walls till Gothic standards fly, 

And all be mine beneath the polar sky." 

The march begins in solitary state, 

And nations on his eye suspended wait ; 

Stern famine guards the solitary coast, 

And Winter barricades the realms of frost ; 

He comes, not want and cold his course delay; 

Hide, blushing Glory, hide Pultowa's day: 

The vanquished hero leaves his broken bands, 

And shows his miseries in distant lands; 

Condemned, a needy suppliant to wait; 

While ladies interpose, and slaves debate. 

But did not chance at length her error mend? 

Did no subverted empire mark his end? 

Or hostile millions press him to the ground? 

His fall was destined to a barren strand, 

A petty fortress and a dubious hand : 

He left the name, at which the world grew pale, 

To point a moral or adorn a tale. 



122 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774). 

" No man was ever so foolish, when he had not a pen in his 
hand, or more wise when he had." — Samuel Johnson. 

" Think of him reckless, thoughtless, vain, if you like — 
but merciful, gentle, generous, full of love and pity." — W. M. 
Thackeray. 

Oliver Goldsmith, the most charming and versatile 
writer of the eighteenth century, was born at Pallas, 
County of Longford, Ireland, in the year 1728. His 
father was a curate of the Established Church, and is 
described in the characters of the Man in Black in 
" The Citizen of the World," the Preacher in " The De- 
serted Village," and Dr. Primrose in " The Vicar of 
Wakefield." At the age of eighteen Oliver obtained a 
servant's scholarship at Trinity College, Dublin. He neg- 
lected his studies, and became noted for his disobedience 
to authority and for his improvidence. After four years 
at the university, he tried successively the professions of 
teacher, clergyman, lawyer and physician, but failed in 
all. In 1755-6 he traveled on foot through Flanders, Ger- 
many, Switzerland and Italy, and returned to England 
in poverty but still hopeful and happy. In 1762 he pub- 
lished " The Citizen of the World," which was originally 
contributed to the Public Ledger in the form of letters 
supposed to be written by a Chinese philosopher resident 
in England. 

His didactic poem " The Traveler " appeared in 1765, at 
which time he had long been settled in London, doing 
miscellaneous literary work for the booksellers. This 
poem was the beginning of his uninterrupted literary suc- 
cess. His writings were sought by publishers, who were 
ready to pay him generous prices, but his folly and his 
improvidence kept him always in debt. Great intellectual 




OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 125 

growth is visible in " The Deserted Village," which ap- 
peared in 1770. This, his finest poem, made him famous. 

Goldsmith is the author of two amusing comedies, 
" The Good-natured Man " and " She Stoops to Conquer," 
the latter being one of the gayest, most amusing plays 
that the English stage can boast. " The Vicar of Wake- 
field," a much admired domestic novel, is, in spite of the 
absurdity of the plot, one of those works that the world 
will not let die. The gentle and quiet humor embodied in 
the simple Dr. Primrose, the delicate yet vigorous con- 
trast of character in the other personages, the purity, 
cheerfulness and gayety which envelop all the scenes and 
incidents, insure the immortality of the work. His his- 
tories were hurriedly written and are valueless as au- 
thorities, yet for their grace of composition and vivacity 
of narration they have had an extensive sale. 

In genuine and overflowing benevolence of heart, few 
men have surpassed Goldsmith, but his want of high 
moral and religious tone is to be deplored. He was sub- 
ject to depression of spirits, and in 1774, continued vexa- 
tion of mind, arising perhaps from pecuniary troubles, 
brought on a nervous fever of which he died in his forty- 
sixth year. His grave was not marked by any inscrip- 
tion, and it cannot now be found, but his hosts of friends 
erected to his memory a monument in Westminster Abbey. 

The characteristics of Goldsmith are thus described by 
Dr. Johnson : "A man of such variety of powers and such 
felicity of performance, that he always seemed to do best 
that which he was doing ; a man who had the art of being 
minute without tediousness, and general without confu- 
sion ; whose language was copious without exuberance, 
exact without constraint, and easv without weakness." 



126 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 



THE DESERTED VILLAGE. 

Sweet Auburn ! loveliest village of the plain, 

Where health and plenty cheer'd the laboring swain, 

Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid 

And parting summer's ling'ring blooms delay'd; 

Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease, 

Amidst thy desert walks the lapwing flies, 

And tires their echoes with unvary'd cries. 

Sunk are thy bowers in shapeless ruin all, 

And the long grass o'ertops the mould'ring wall ; 

And trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand, 

Far, far away thy children leave the land. 

Ill fares the land, to hast'ning ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates and men decay; 
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade; 
A breath can make them, as a breath has made; 
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, 
When once destroy'd, can never be supplied. 

Thomas Gray (1716-1771).— Thomas Gray was born at 
Cornhill, London, in 1716. His father is described as 
a money-scrivener ; we should say now-a-days, he was 
a member of the stock exchange. Gray received his edu- 
cation at Eton and at Cambridge. After leaving Cam- 
bridge he traveled on the continent with a fellow-student, 
Horace Walpole, son of the Prime Minister. Gray de- 
scribed this journey in a series of letters, which are models 
of epistolary correspondence. He acquired a literary 
reputation by his " Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton 
College," published in 1747. This was followed by " The 
Bard," the " Progress of Poesy," the " Ode to Adversity," 
and other brilliant productions. The famous " Elegy in a 
Country Churchyard " was first published in a magazine 
in 1750. The melancholy beauty of these lovely lines is 
enhanced by the purity of the style. The thoughts are 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 127 

obvious enough, but the finished grace of the language 
and versification in which they are embodied gives to 
the work the perfection of design and execution which is 
seen in an antique statue. 

In 1768 he obtained the professorship of Modern His- 
tory in the University of Cambridge. In 1771, while din- 
ing in the college hall, he w r as seized with the illness of 
which he died in a few days. He was buried by the side 
of his mother, in Stoke, a village of Buckinghamshire. 

ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD. 
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 

The lowing herds wind slowly o'er the lea, 
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, 

And leaves the world to darkness and to me. 

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, 

And all the air a solemn stillness holds, 
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, 

And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds ; 

.Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower, 

The moping owl does to the moon complain 
Of such, as, wandering near her secret bower, 

Molest her ancient, solitary reign. 

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew tree's shade, 
Where heaves the turf in many a mold'ring heap, 

Each in his narrow cell forever laid, 
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. 

The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn, 

The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, 
The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, 

No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed. 

* 

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, 

Or busy housewife ply her evening care ; 
No children run to lisp their sire's return, 

Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share. 



128 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Some village Hampden, that, with dauntless breast 
The little tyrant of his fields withstood; 

Some mute, inglorious Milton here may rest, 

Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood. 

The applause of listening senates to command, 
The threats of pain and ruin to despise, 

To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, 

And read their history in a nation's eyes, 

Their lot forbade : nor, circumscribed alone 
Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined; 

Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne, 
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind; 

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, 
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame, 

Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride 
With incense kindled at the Muse's flame. 

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, 
Their sober wishes never learned to stray; 

Along the cool, sequestered vale of life 
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. 

Yet even these bones from insult to protect, 
Some frail memorial still, erected nigh, 

With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked, 
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh. 

Their names, their years, spelt by the unlettered Muse, 

The place of fame and elegy supply; 
And many a holy text around she strews, 

That teach the rustic moralist to die. 

For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, 
This pleasing, anxious being e'er resigned, 

Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, 
Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind? 

On some fond breast the parting soul relies, 
Some pious drops the closing eye requires; 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 129 

E'en from the tomb the voice of Nature cries, 
E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires. 

For thee, who, mindful of the unhonored dead, 

Dost in these lines their artless tale relate; 
If chance, by lonely Contemplation led, 

Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate, 

Haply some hoary-headed swain may say, 

" Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn, 
Brushing with hasty steps the dew away, 

To meet the sun upon the upland lawn. 

" There at the foot of yonder nodding beech, 

That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high, 
His listless length at noontide would he stretch, 

And pore upon the brook that babbles by. 

" Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn, 
Mutt'ring his wayward fancies, he would rove; 

Now drooping, woful, wan, like one forlorn, 
Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love. 

"One morn I missed him on th' accustomed hill, 

Along the heath, and near his favorite tree; 
Another came; nor yet beside the rill, 

Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he; 

" The next, with dirges due, in sad array, 

Slow through the churchway path we saw him borne, 

Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay, 
'Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn." 

THE EPITAPH. 

Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth, 

A youth, to Fortune and to Fame unknown. 
Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth, 

And Melancholy marked him for her own. 
Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, 

Heaven did a recompense as largely send; 
He gave to Misery (all he had) a tear; 

He gained from Heaven ('twas all he wished) a friend. 
9 



130 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

No farther seek his merits to disclose, 

Or draw his frailties from their dread abode 
(There they alike in trembling hope repose) 

The bosom of his Father and his God. 

Edmund Burke (1730-1797). 

"Take up whatever topic you please, Burke is always ready 
to meet you." — Dr. Johnson. 

" He made himself everywhere the champion of principle and 
the persecutor of vice; and men saw him bring to the attack all 
the forces of his wonderful knowledge, his lofty reason, his splen- 
did style, with the unwearying and untempered ardor of a moral- 
ist and a knight." — Taine. 

Edmund Burke was born in Dublin and spent many 
of his early days near the ruins of Spenser's famous castle 
of Kilcolman. He was educated at Trinity College; he 
also spent some time at the English Catholic College of 
St. Omer. His father, Richard Burke, an Irish attorney, 
was at one time a Catholic, but apostatized in order to 
retain his office. As a boy Edmund Burke was distin- 
guished for his love of study, and for his remarkable 
powers of comprehension and retention. " When we were 
at play," wrote his brother Richard, " he was always at 
work." 

His first publication was anonymous, and was entitled 
" A Vindication of Natural Society," an ironical imitation 
of the style and sentiments of Lord Bolingbroke. So per- 
fect was the imitation that the most eminent critics of the 
day did not detect its intense irony, but pronounced it a 
genuine posthumous work of Lord Bolingbroke, which 
he had not dared to publish during his lifetime. In pur- 
suing Bolingbroke's reasoning, Burke reached the con- 
clusion that society itself is evil, and that only the savage 
state is conducive to virtue and happiness. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 131 

In 1757 he published " An Essay on the Sublime and 
Beautiful," which placed him in the first class of writers 
on taste and criticism. This work has since been re- 
garded as one of the classics in our literature. 

His political career was one of honor and activity. Dur- 
ing the agitated periods of the American and the French 
Revolution, he was one of the most prominent debaters. 
In the contest between England and our country he de- 
voted himself to the defense of the colonies. He advo- 
cated the freedom of the press and the abolition of the 
slave trade ; and his action in the trial of Warren Hastings 
will forever identify his name with whatever is great, ele- 
vated and just in statesmanship and legislation. 

His incomparable work, " Reflections on the French 
Revolution," was written with anxious care and masterly 
skill. Its success repaid his labor, for it was read far and 
wide, and was influential in checking the dangerous ten- 
dencies of the age. His last work, " Letters on a Regicide 
Peace," was published a few months before his death, and 
is distinguished by its wisdom and far-seeing sagacity. 

Burke's domestic comfort was irretrievably impaired, 
and his life probably shortened, by the death of his son 
in 1794. In his celebrated " Letter to a Noble Lord " he 
speaks thus of his loss : " I live in an inverted order. 
They who ought to have succeeded me have gone before 
me. They who should have been to me as posterity, are 
in the place of ancestors. The storm has gone over me, 
and I lie like one of those old oaks which the late hur- 
ricane hath scattered about me. I am stripped of all my 
honors : I am torn up by the roots, and lie prostrate on 
the earth ! There, and prostrate there, I must unfeignedly 
recognize the divine justice, and in some degree submit 
to it." In July, 1797, he calmly expired at his country 



132 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

seat of Beaconsfield, retaining the perfect possession of 
his faculties to the last. 

The writings of Edmund Burke are the only political 
writings of a past age that continue to be read with in- 
terest in the present; and they are now, perhaps, more 
studied and better appreciated than when first produced. 
His diction was rich and varied, but the length of his 
speeches, their copiousness, abundance of ornament and 
wide field of speculation produced impatience in men of 
business absorbed in the particular subject of debate. He 
was ever a bold, uncompromising champion, of justice, 
mercy and truth, impartial in judgment, unswayed by 
political doctrine. 

From his — 

SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA. 

My hold of the colonies is in the close affection which grows 
from common names, from kindred blood, from similar privi- 
leges, and equal protection. There are ties which, though light 
as air, are as strong as links of iron. Let the colonies always 
keep the idea of their civil rights associated with your govern- 
ment ;. they will cling and grapple to you ; and no force under 
heaven will be of power to tear them from your allegiance. But 
let it be once understood that your government may be one thing 
and their privileges another; that these two things may exist 
without any mutual relation, the cement is gone — the cohesion is 
loosened — and everything hastens to decay and dissolution. As 
long as you have the wisdom to keep the sovereign authority of 
this country as the sanctuary of liberty, the sacred temple conse- 
crated to our common faith, wherever the chosen race and sons of 
England worship freedom, they will turn their faces toward you. 
The more they multiply, the more friends you will have ; the more 
ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be their obe- 
dience. Slavery they can have anywhere. It is a weed that 
grows in every soil. They may have it from Spain, they may have 
it from Prussia; but until you become lost to all feeling of your 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 133 

true interest and your mutual dignity, freedom they can have from 
none but you. This is the commodity of price, of which you have 
the monopoly. This is the true act of navigation, which binds 
you to the commerce of the colonies, and through them secures 
to you the wealth of the world. 

Deny them this participation of freedom, and you break that 
sole bond which originally made and must still preserve the 
unity of the empire. Do not entertain so weak an imagination 
as that your registers and your bonds, your affidavits and your 
sufferances, your cockets and your clearances,, are what form 
the great securities of your commerce. Do not dream that your 
letters of office, and your instructions, and your suspending 
clauses, are the things that hold together the great contexture of 
the mysterious whole. These things do not make your govern- 
ment. Dead instruments, passive tools as they are, it is the 
spirit of the English communion that gives all their life and 
efficacy to them. It is the spirit of the English Constitution, 
which, infused through the mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, 
invigorates, vivifies every part of the empire, even down to the 
minutest member. 

Is it not the same virtue which does everything for us here 
in England? Do you imagine, then, that it is the Land Tax Act 
which raises your revenue? that it is the annual vote in the 
Committee of Supply which gives you your army? or that it is 
the Mutiny Bill which inspires it with bravery and discipline? 
No ! surely no ! It is the love of the people; it is their attachment 
to their government, . from the sense of the deep stake they have 
in such a glorious institution — which gives you your army and 
your navy, and infuses into both that liberal obedience, without 
which your army would be a base rabble, and your navy noth- 
ing but rotten timber. 

William Cowper (1731=1800).— William Cowper, the poet 
of home-life and domestic affections, was born in Hert- 
fordshire, England, in 1731. The early death of his 
mother caused him to be sent at the age of six years to 
a school conducted by Dr. Titman. Here the timid child 
was for two years persistently and often cruelly tormented 



134 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

by the older pupils. For seven years he attended the 
famous Westminster school, where he was comparatively 
happy. Cowper's father wished him to study for the 
bar; but his unfitness for that profession becoming mani- 
fest, he was appointed to a clerkship in the House of 
Lords. An overpowering nervousness prevented him 
from discharging the duties of this post; at the thought 
of presenting himself for a formal examination he fell into 
despondency and attempted suicide. He recovered from 
this attack, but was so shaken by it that he was unfitted 
for public life, and he retired to the country. He placed 
himself under the care of the family of Mr. Unwin, a 
clergyman of Huntingdon. Cowper's virtues and ac- 
complishments secured for him the good-will of all, and 
especially won the tender and life-long friendship of Mrs. 
Unwin. 

Cowper was a believer in the gloomy religious doc- 
trines of Calvin, and was tormented with despair con- 
cerning eternal salvation. As a pastime, and as a means 
of diverting his melancholy thoughts, he prepared a vol- 
ume of poems for the press, and then pursued as a pro- 
fession what he had at first taken up as a diversion. He 
was more than fifty years of age when his first volume 
was published. It contained long didactic poems, the 
principal topics being " Truth," " Hope," " Charity " and 
" Conversation." At this time he met Lady Austin, who 
urged him to write his now famous ballad " John Gilpin." 
She next gave him " The Sofa " as a theme, and thus 
started him in the composition of his masterpiece, " The 
Task," a reflective poem in six books. 

His translation of Homer appeared in 179 1. It was his 
most laborious and least successful undertaking. Dis- 
appointed at the reception of this work, he meditated a 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 135 

revision of it, but his dread malady returned and the last 
years of his life were shrouded in its awful gloom. His 
" Letters " are famous and occupy the first rank in episto- 
lary literature. 

Cowper's art is certainly defective ; he seems to have 
believed that poetry has no rules. His versification is 
careless ; and to rhythm and choice of words he pays far 
too little attention. 

" THE WINTER WALK AT NOON." 

Now at noon 
Upon the southern side of the slant hills, 
And where the woods fence off the northern blast, 
The season smiles resigning all its rage, 
And has the warmth of May. The vault is blue 
Without a cloud and white without a speck, 
The dazzling splendor of the scene below. 
Again the harmony comes o'er the vale; 
And through the trees I view th' embattled tower, 
Whence all the music. I again perceive 
The soothing influence of the wafted strains 
And settle in soft musings as I tread 
The walk, still verdant, under oaks and elms, 
Whose outspread branches overarch the glade. 
The roof, though movable through all its length, 
As the wind sways it, has yet well sufficed, 
And intercepting in their silent fall 
The frequent flakes, has kept a path for me. 
No noise is here, or none that hinders thought. 
The redbreast warbles still, but is content 
With slender notes, and more than half suppressed; 
Pleased with his solitude, and flitting light 
From spray to spray, where'er he rests he shakes 
From many a twig the pendent drops of ice, 
That tinkle in the withered leaves below. 
Stillness, accompanied with sounds so soft, 
Charms more than silence. Meditation here 



136 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

May think down hours to moments. Here the heart 
May give a useful lesson to the head, 
And Learning wiser grow without his books. 
Knowledge and Wisdom, far from being one, 
Have ofttimes no connexion. Knowledge dwells 
In heads replete with thoughts of other men ; 
Wisdom in minds attentive to their own. 
Knowledge a rude, unprofitable mass, 
The mere materials with which Wisdom builds, 
Till smoothed, and squared, and fitted to its place, 
Does but encumber whom it seems t' enrich. 
Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much ; 
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more. 
Books are not seldom talismans and spells, 
By which the magic art of shrewder wits 
Holds an unthinking multitude enthralled. 

From " The Task," Book VI. 

Robert Burns (1750-1796;. — Robert Burns was born in 
the hamlet of Alloway in Ayrshire, Scotland, and was the 
son of a peasant farmer of the humblest class. He re- 
ceived the best training his parish school could offer, and 
impelled by an eagerness for knowledge, he read some of 
the masterpieces of our literature. Until his twenty-eighth 
year he continued a weary struggle against poverty, and 
then resolved to seek his fortune in the West Indies. 
In order to raise money to defray the expenses of the 
voyage he published a volume of poems, but his work be- 
came so popular that he abandoned the idea of leaving 
Scotland. For two years he was lionized in the Scotch 
capital, then, after his marriage to Jean Armour, he was 
appointed exciseman. Unfortunately for him, this office 
threw in his way many temptations to intemperance. He 
removed to Dumfries. Here he became a slave to intem- 
perance ; disappointment and self-reproach preyed upon 
him ; want stared him in the face ; and in his thirty- 




ROBERT BURNS. 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 139 

seventh year, this greatest of Scotch poets, having become 
a mere wreck of his former self, sank into an untimely 
grave. 

The poetical powers of Burns were of a high order, 
but for want of culture they failed to accomplish what 
they had at first promised. His best poems are " Tarn 
O'Shanter," "The Cotter's Saturday Night," "The Twa 
Dogs," " Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled," " Ye Banks 
and Braes " and " Bonnie Doon." 

LAMENT OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, ON 
THE APPROACH OF SPRING. 
Now nature hangs her mantle green 

On every blooming tree, 
And spreads her sheets o' daisies white 

Out o'er the grassy lea : 
Now Phoebus cheers the crystal streams 

And glads the azure skies; 
But nought can glad the weary wight 

That fast in durance lies. 

Now lav'rocks wake the merry morn, 

Aloft on dewy wing; 
The merle, in his noontide bower, 

Makes woodland echoes ring; 
The mavis wild wi' mony a note, 

Sings drowsy day to rest: 
In love and freedom ,they rejoice, 

Wi' care nor thrall opprest. 

Now blooms the lily by the bank, 

The primrose down the brae; 
The hawthorn's budding in the glen, 

And milk-white is the slae ; 
The meanest hind in fair Scotland 

May rove their sweets amang, 
But I, the Queen of a' Scotland, 

Maun lie in prison Strang ! 



140 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

I was the Queen o' bonny France, 

"Where happy I hae been; 
Fu' lightly rase I in the morn, 

As blithe lay down at e'en; 
And I'm the sovereign of Scotland, 

And mony a traitor there ; 
Yet here I lie in foreign bands, 

And never-ending care. 

****** 

My son! my son! may kinder stars 

Upon thy fortune shine; 
And may those fortunes gild thy reign 

That ne'er wad blink on mine! 
God keep thee frae thy mother's faes, 

Or turn their hearts to thee : 
And where thou meet'st thy mother's friend, 

Remember him for me ! 

Oh ! soon to me may summer suns 

Nae mair light up the morn ! 
Nae mair to me the autumn winds 

Wave o'er the yellow corn! 
And in the narrow house o' death 

Let winter round me rave ; 
And the flowers that deck the spring 

Bloom on my peaceful grave ! 

OTHER WRITERS OF THIS AGE. 

POETS. 

Edward Young (1681-1765) owes his place in literature 
to his poem " Night Thoughts." Many expressions 
from his writings have passed into the colloquial language 
of society ; as, " Procrastination is the thief of time,". " all 
men think all men mortal but themselves." 

Allan Ramsey (1685-1758) was a Scotch poet, who wrote 
in the dialect of his country a pastoral poem, " The 
Gentle Shepherd." 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 141 

John Gay (1688-1732) still retains favor by his " Fables." 
" The Beggar's Opera," the pioneer of English operatic 
works, has been condemned for its licentiousness. 

James Thompson (1700-1748) is the author of "The 
Seasons," a deservedly popular poem. 

William Collins (1721-1750) was a fine lyric poet, author 
of " Ode to the Passions," a poem exquisitely felicitous 
in conception. 

Mark Akenside (1721-1770) is well remembered for his 
philosophical poem " Pleasures of the Imagination." 

Thomas Chatterton (1750-1770) was a precocious genius, 
who deceived nearly all the critics of his age by impos- 
ing upon them as manuscripts of the fifteenth century 
tales and poems written by himself. 

PROSE WRITERS. 

Richard Challoner (1691-1781) vicar apostolic of the Lon- 
don district, became a convert at an early age. As 
a missionary priest, and later as a bishop, he was an 
admirable example of fidelity to duty. His principal work 
is his revision of the Rheims-Douay Bible, in which he 
substituted modern for antiquated terms. 

Alban Butler (1700-1773) was a Catholic priest and an 
eminent hagiographer. His " Lives of the Saints," com- 
pleted after thirty years of labor, is a monumental work. 

Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780) was an eminent Eng- 
lish jurist. His " Commentaries on the Laws of 
England " was the first systematic work which gave the 
elementary and historical knowledge necessary for the 
study. 



142 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Adam Smith (1723-1790) was the founder of the science 
of Political Economy in Europe. His " Wealth of Na- 
tions " is his most important work. 

Letters of Junius. — A series of satirical letters directed 
against the Tory ministry appeared in the London Ad- 
vocate from 1769 to 1772. The annals of political con- 
troversy show nothing more fierce than these lampoons, 
and their influence was unbounded. 

Horace Walpole (1719-1787), son of Sir Robert Walpole, the 
celebrated statesman, is best known by his " Letters " and 
" Memories." 

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) was a brilliant dram- 
atist, and a great parliamentary orator. His principal 
plays are " The School for Scandal," " The Rivals " and 
" The Critic." 

David Hume (1711-1776) was a distinguished Scotchman. 
His " History of Great Britain " displays beauty of style, 
but it is disfigured by the intolerant spirit with which it 
maligns Catholicism. 

Edward Gibbon (1736-1794) is another great infidel writer 
whose works are dangerous to the faith and offensive 
to the tastes of a Christian In his " Decline and Fall of 
the Roman Empire " he openly assails Christianity. 

William Robertson (1721-1793) wrote the "History of 
Scotland during the Reigns of Mary and James VI.," 
" History of the Reign of Charles V.," and " The History 
of America." 

Daniel Defoe (1661-1731) author of "Robinson Crusoe," 
is regarded by many as the founder of the English novel. 
He wrote two hundred and ten books and pamphlets ; of 
some of these Macaulay says : " They are worse than im- 
moral ; quite beastly." 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 143 

Samuel Richardson (1689-1767) is one of the prominent 
novelists of the eighteenth century. He wrote " Pamela," 
" Clarissa Harlowe," and " Sir Charles Grandison." 

Henry Fielding (1707-1754) shares with Richardson the 
prominence as a novel-writer in this century. His 
principal works are " Joseph Andrews," " Tom Jones," 
" Jonathan Wild," and " Amelia," all unfit for perusal, 
owing to the coarseness of the pictures and the indelicacy 
of the language. 

Tobias George Smollett (1721-1771) was another writer 
whose works are spoiled by their licentiousness. His 
principal works are " Roderick Random," " Peregrine 
Pickle," and " Humphrey Clinker." 

Lawrence Sterne (1713-1768) is the author of " Tristram 
Shandy," " Sentimental Journey," and a collection of 
" Sermons." 

Hannah More (1745-1833) wrote much both in prose and 
verse, and was at all times influential for good. Her 
principal works are " The Search for Happiness," 
" Coelebs in Search of a Wife," and " Practical Piety." 

Lady Mary Wortley Montague (1690-1762) was a friend of 
Pope, and a famous society woman of this century. 



CHAPTER V. 

Modern Times (1800-1895). 

In the early part of the present century the triumphal 
career of Napoleon Bonaparte excited the fears of Eng- 
land, causing her to take part in the wars waged between 
France and the other continental powers. In 1805 the 
great Admiral Nelson won the memorable naval battle of 
Trafalgar. At length the long contest ended in the down- 
tall of Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo, 181 5. 

During the eighteenth century the Irish Parliament, 
composed of Protestants of an exceedingly bitter type, 
had heaped upon the Catholics of Ireland an accumula- 
tion of the most unjust laws that had ever been expressed 
in the English tongue. In 1828, owing to the efforts of 
the Irish patriot, Daniel O'Connell, the Test Act was re- 
pealed, and the Catholic Emancipation Bill was passed, 
admitting Catholics to a place in Parliament. Victoria, 
niece of William IV., ascended the throne of England 
in 1837. The principal events of her reign are the res- 
toration of the Catholic Hierarchy in England ; the war 
in the Crimea in 1854, fought by England and France in 
defense of Turkey against the attacks of Russia and won 
by the allies ; the mutiny of the native troops in English 
pay (the Sepoys) in India; the disestablishment of the 
English State Church in Ireland, thus removing the 
heavy burden of the support of a Protestant church from 
a Catholic people. This reign has also witnessed the or- 
ganization of the Land League, for the purpose of effect- 
144 



MODERN TIMES. 145 

ing by legitimate means a permanent amelioration in the 
condition of the Irish peasantry. In 1870, education was 
made compulsory, school boards were established in every 
district, and the support of the schools was provided for 
by taxation. 

In common with the rest of the civilized world, England 
has advanced in manufacturing and commercial pros- 
perity, and has benefited by the increase and perfecting 
of innumerable inventions which contribute to the com- 
fort and enjoyment of mankind. The printing press at 
the opening of the century was but a rude machine, in 
which little improvement had been made since the days 
of Caxton ; one hundred and fifty copies an hour was the 
limit of its working power. In our day, one machine 
driven by steam can cut, print and fold 25,000 newspapers 
in one hour. 

English literature, moulded by Shakespeare and his 
contemporaries, polished and refined by Pope and Ad- 
dison, has reached in this country the zenith of excellence. 
There never was a time when men wrote so much and 
so well. Unfortunately both prose and poetry are often 
made the vehicle of many dangerous theories and false 
sentiments. Under cover of liberality are disguised 
thoughts against the divine teachings of religion ; while 
again men of profound scientific attainments will teach 
openly that the truths of science are incompatible with 
those of revealed religion. The result is an alarming 
growth of agnosticism and infidelity: therefore when 
we see the inextricable maze of error in which others 
are entangled, we should revere and love the more our 
infallible guide, we should rejoice in the possession of a 
Holy Faith and feel that for it all the treasures of litera- 
ture, science and philosophy could give but a poor 
exchange. 
10 



146 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

William Wordsworth (1770-1850). 

" Him who uttered nothing base." — Tennyson. 

" Whatever the world may think of me or of my poetry is 
now of little consequence ; but one thing is a comfort of my old 
age, that none of my works contain a line which I should wish 
to blot out because it panders to the baser passions of our nature. 
This is a comfort to me ; I can do no mischief by my works when 
I am gone." — William Wordsworth. 

William Wordsworth was born in Cumberland, Eng- 
land, in 1770. He was left an orphan very early in life, 
and in his ninth year was sent to a school in Hawks hend, 
the most picturesque district in Lancashire. After hav- 
ing taken his degree at Cambridge in 1791, he went to 
France and eagerly embraced the ideas of the champions 
of liberty in that country. His political sentiments were 
soon modified, however, and he settled down into steady 
conservatism. At the death of Southey, in 1843, Words- 
worth was made poet laureate. 

He was from the first in easy circumstances, and had 
a small fortune. Happily married, he lived peacefully on 
the margin of a beautiful lake, in sight of noble moun- 
tains, in the pleasant retirement of an elegant house, 
amidst the admiration and attentions of distinguished and 
chosen friends, engrossed by contemplations which no 
storm came to distract, and by poetry which was produced 
without any hindrance. 

He saw a grandeur, a beauty, a teaching in the trivial 
events which weave the woof of our most commonplace 
days. He needed not, for the sake of emotion, either 
splendid sights or unusual actions. After a tranquil and 
uneventful life he died at Rydal Mount in 1850. 

Never' has there been a poet more reverently loved by 
those who have given him deep study, and less liked by 




WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. 



MODERN TIMES. 149 

those who know him but little. We do not find perfection 
in Wordsworth, not the sweet cadence of melodies that 
require no intellectual effort ; not poems, like the paintings 
of some moderns, where one finds all the skill and color 
that could be desired, but not the soul of the artist. It is 
true that his theory of poetic thought, without poetic 
expression, was an exaggeration, and he himself in some 
of his finer passages did not adhere to the theory. He 
maintained that the colloquial language of rustics was the 
most philosophical and enduring which the dictionary 
affords, and the fittest for verse of every description. 
When his finest verse is brought to the test of his prin- 
ciple, they agree no better than light and darkness. He 
describes thus, the effects of the pealing organ in King's 
College Chapel : 

"But from the arms of silence — list! O list — 
The music bursteth into second life ; 
The notes luxuriate, every stone is kissed 
With sound or ghost of sound, in mazy strife ! " 

This is to write like a splendid poet, but it is not to 
write as rustics talk. 

His earliest works were in imitation of the style of 
Pope and Spenser. His " Lyrical Ballads," published in 
1798, were intended as an experiment on a new system of 
poetry. They were, through principle, written on the 
humblest subjects, and in the language of the humblest 
life ; but the attempt was not a success. " Peter Bell," 
published in 18 19, was received with a shout of ridicule. 
It is meant to be serious, but there is so much farcical 
absurdity of detail and language that the reader revolts. 
His longest poem, " The Excursion,'* is a fragment of an 
unfinished epic. 



150 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Should we learn to love Wordsworth's poetry, and 
understand how his thought is to be valued above poetic 
chaff, we must thank heaven for the precious gift. As in 
painting, he who sees through the color and form and 
grasps the fullness of what they were intended to repre- 
sent; or he, who in music discerns over and above the 
melody a deeper meaning coming from the soul of the 
master, is content that others may flatter themselves that 
a daub or a tune is painting and music, as for them it is : 
so one who hears a poetic voice speaking from the very 
soul of living nature envies not those who beguile them- 
selves with the faintest echoes. 

There must have been something very noble in the 
mind of Wordsworth who, though not a Catholic, could 
write these lines on the Blessed Virgin: 

Mother ! whose virgin bosom was uncrosst, 
With the least shade of thought to sin allied; 
Woman ! above all women glorified, 
Our tainted nature's solitary boast ; 
Purer than foam on central ocean tost ; 
Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak, strewn 
With fancied roses, than the unblemished moon 
Before her wane begins on heaven's blue coast, 
Thy image falls to earth. Yet some I ween, 
Not unforgiven the suppliant knee might bend, 
As to a visible power, in which did blend 
All that was mixed and reconciled in thee 
Of mother's love with maiden purity, 
Of high with low, celestial with terrene! 

We find in him the stirring, clear voice of a man ot 
character, it rings out in firm tones which pierce into the 
heart, and we say this man's thought is true, and since I 
should love God's nature so well, I should love and serve 
Nature's God the better. Familiarity with his thoughts 



MODERN TIMES. 



151 



will give to them a significance that ever grows deeper, 
and will find them endowed with unsuspected beauty. 



TO A SKYLARK. 

Up with me! up with me into the clouds! 

For thy song, Lark, is strong; 
Up with me, up with me into the clouds ! 

Singing, singing, 
With all the heavens about thee ringing; 

Lift me, guide me, till I find 
That spot which seems so to thy mind! 

I have walked through wildernesses dreary, 
And to-day my heart is weary ; 
Had I now the wings of a fairy, 
Up to thee would I fly. 
There is madness about thee, and joy divine 

In that song of thine; 
Up with me, up with me, high and high, 
To thy banqueting-place in the sky. 

Joyous as morning 
Thou art laughing and scorning; 

Thou hast a nest, for thy love and thy rest; 

And, though little troubled with sloth, 

Drunken Lark ! thou wouldst be loth 

To be such a traveler as I. 
Happy, happy liver ! 

With a soul as strong as a mountain river, 

Pouring out praise to th' Almighty Giver, 
Joy and jollity be with us both! 

Alas! my journey, rugged and uneven, 

Through prickly moors or dusty ways must wind; 

But hearing thee, or others of thy kind, 

As full of gladness and as free as heaven, 

I, with my fate contented, will plod on, 

And hope for higher raptures when life's day is done. 



152 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY. 

I. 

There was a time when meadow, grove and stream, 
The earth, and every common sight, 
To me did seem 
Appareled in celestial light, 
The glory and the freshness of a dream. 
It is not now as it has been of yore ; — 
Turn whereso'er I may, 
By night or day, 
The things which I have seen I now can see no more ! 

II. 

The rainbow comes and goes, 

And lovely is the rose, — 

The moon doth with delight 
Look round her when the heavens are bare; 

Waters on a starry night 

Are beautiful and fair; 

The sunshine is a glorious birth ; 

But yet I know, where'er I go, 
That there hath passed away a glory from the earth. 

III. 
Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song, 
And while the young lambs bound, 
As to the tabor's sound, 
To me alone there came a thought of grief; 
A timely utterance gave that thought relief, 

And I again am strong. 
The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep, — 
No more shall grief of mine the season wrong; 
I hear the echoes through the mountains throng, 
The winds come to me from the fields of sleep, 
And all the earth is gay; 
Land and sea 
Give themselves up to jollity, 
And with the heart of May 



MODERN TIMES. 153 

Doth every beast keep holiday : — 
Thou child of joy, 
Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, 
Thou happy shepherd boy! 

IV. 

Ye blessed creatures, I have heard the call 
Ye to each other make ; I see 
The heavens laugh with you in your jubilee; 
My heart is at your festival, 

My head hath its coronal, 
The fulness of your bliss, I feel — I feel it all. 
Oh evil day ! if I were sullen 
While the earth herself is adorning, 

This sweet May morning ; 
And the children are pulling, 

On every side, 
In a thousand valleys far and wide, 
Fresh flowers ; while the sun shines warm 
And the babe leaps up on his mother's arm : — 

I hear, I hear, with joy I hear ! 
— But there's a tree, of many, one, 
A single field which I have looked upon, 
Both of them speak of something that is gone : 
The pansy at my feet 
Doth the same tale repeat: 
Whither is fled the visionary gleam? 
Where is it now, the glory and the dream^ 

V. 
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: 
The soul that rises with us, our life's star, 
Hath had elsewhere its setting, 

And cometh from afar ; 
Not in entire forgetfulness, 
And not in utter nakedness, 
But trailing clouds of glory, do we come 

From God, who is our home : 
Heaven lies about us in our infancy ! 

5jC * * * =K # * 



154 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

XL 

And oh ye fountains, meadows, hills and groves, 
Forebode not any severing of our loves ! 
Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might; 
I only have relinquished one delight 
To live beneath your more habitual sway. 
I love the brooks, which down their channels fret, 
Even more than when I tripped lightly as they: 
The innocent brightness of a new-born day 

Is lovely yet; 
The clouds that gather round the setting sun 
Do take a sober coloring from an eye 
That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality; 
Another race hath been, and other palms are won. 
Thanks to the human heart by which we live; 
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys and fears; 
To me the meanest flower that blows can give 
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. 

Alfred Tennyson (1810-1892). 

" Tennyson is the most faultless of modern poets in technical 
execution, but one whose verse is more remarkable for artistic 
perfection than for dramatic action and inspired fervor. His 
adroitness surpasses his invention." — Stedman. 

Alfred Tennyson, the son of an Anglican clergyman, 
was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1810. He was 
educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and he resided 
for many years at Aldworth, in Sussex, with a summer 
residence at Farringford on the Isle of Wight. His early 
productions were not well received, and the poet profiting 
by the rebuff, buried himself among his books, and for 
ten years studied laboriously with the view of fitting him- 
self for his chosen career. On his reappearance he soared 
at once to the highest place in the poetic firmament. In 
the year 1850 he was appointed Poet Laureate and in 
1855 Oxford conferred on him the degree of D. C. L. 




ALFRED TENNYSON. 



MODERN TIMES. 157 

Tennyson was a man of refined tastes, wide culture, 
profound thought and studious habits ; the beauty and 
purity of his works are but reflections of the character 
of the man. He died at Aldworth, October 6, 1892. The 
close of his life was in keeping with the thoughts ex- 
pressed in his last poem, entitled: 

CROSSING THE BAR. 

Sunset and evening star, 

And one clear call for me ! 
And may there be no moaning of the bar 

When I put out to sea ! 

But such a tide as moving seems asleep, 

Too full for sound and foam, 
When that which drew from out the boundless deep 

Turns again home. 

Twilight and evening bell, 

And after that the dark! 
And may there be no sadness of farewell 

When I embark! 

For though from out our bourne of Time and Place 

The flood may bear me far, 
I hope to see my Pilot face to face 

When I have crossed the bar. 

Among his finest poems are " The May Queen," 
" Locksley Hall," " The Princess," " In Memoriam," 
"Maud," "Enoch Arden " and "Idyls of the King." 
His masterpiece, " Idyls of the King," cost him the labor 
of twenty years. It is a rendering of the old Arthurian 
legends into exquisitely musical verse. In this epic of 
chivalry Tennyson has caught the mediaeval spirit ; no 
other poet has written so beautifully of the much-ma- 



158 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

ligned Middle Ages. " In Memoriam," his most char- 
acteristic work, is a lament for the untimely death of his 
friend, Arthur Henry Hallam, son of the great historian. 
His dramas, "Queen Mary," "Harold," and "Thomas 
a Becket," are false to history, and are bitterly hostile 
to Catholicism. 

Tennyson is essentially a lyric poet, a graceful writer, 
a singer of many sweet melodies ; but the beauty there 
is rather that of the cold mosaic than of " the human face 
divine," or if it is the beauty of the human countenance, a 
peaceful or happy soul does not beam through it. In 
his verse we seem ever to hear a sigh after something 
that is hopeless, ever a wail for sad days gone by — often 
most beautifully uttered, yet only a regretful wail with 
very little of a brightening glimmer of joy to look for- 
ward to in life or after it. Sadness is an element of 
poetry, grief and sorrow go home to the heart of every 
human being, but not the sadness of despair, not the 
gloom of endless death. True human sorrow has in it a 
gleam of hope, but " Tennyson's Calvary has no Easter." 

The motive that is lacking in modern literature and in 
art is faith — a living, energizing faith in the fact that 
all this unintelligible tangle of the natural world is in 
very truth working together for good ; a faith stronger 
far than the faint-hearted trust of Tennyson as thus ex- 
pressed : 

" O, yet we trust that somehow good 
Will be the final good of ill. 



Behold, we know not anything; 
I can but trust that good shall fall 
At last — far off — at last, to all, 
And every winter change to spring.' 



MODERN TIMES. 159 

In 1875 Tennyson appeared in a new role, that of 
dramatic poet. " Queen Mary " was received with re- 
spectful and general dissatisfaction, a fate that " Harold " 
shared in 1877. " Becket," with which a theater was 
opened in New York by the Irving company, was only an 
accidental success, and the ablest critics deem it a read- 
ing, not an acting play. In this play, as in " Queen 
Mary," Tennyson places the prominent character in a 
false light, thereby incurring the censure of Catholics. 

Some have found in Tennyson many meanings, and 
remarkable among them is a spiritual meaning, which 
has met the approbation of Tennyson himself ; it becomes 
therefore for the future a part of the " Idyls." Thus in 
the Passing of Arthur: 

He passes to be king among the dead, 
And after healing of his grievous wound 
He comes again. 

This hope is based upon the Christian belief in a resur- 
rection. Being sorely wounded, Arthur commands Sir 
Bedivere to throw the brand Excalibur into the lake, and 
then to report what happens. After being twice faithless, 
through temptation of the riches of the hilt, Bedivere 
flings Excalibur into the mere, and reports to Arthur: 

Then with both hands I flung wheeling him, 
But when I looked again, behold, an arm 
Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful, 
That caught him by the hilt and brandished him 
Three times, and drew him under in the mere. 

John Keats (1795-1821), — John Keats was a poet of the 
highest promise, and in his short life contributed many 
noble compositions to English poetry. He was of lowly 
origin, weak in health and scantily befriended, yet his 



160 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

soul thirsted for beauty; and his creed, the substance of 
his religion, was — 

" That first in beauty should be first in might." 

It was his misfortune to be either extravagantly praised 
or unmercifully condemned ; and literary disappointment, 
together with a constitutional tendency to consumption, 
brought him to an untimely grave. His principal works 
are " Endymion," " Hyperion," " The Eve of St. Agnes," 
" Ode on a Grecian Urn " and " Ode to a Nightingale ; " 
these are characterized by a profusion of figurative lan- 
guage, often exquisitely beautiful and luxurious, but 
sometimes fantastical. After publishing his third volume, 
he sailed for Italy in 1820, accompanied by his friend, 
Severn. He established himself at Rome with Severn, 
but, in spite of the devoted care and kindness of this ad- 
mirable friend, he died February 23, 1821. John Keats 
was buried in Rome, and on his gravestone is the in- 
scription which he told his friend to place there : 

" Here lies one whose name was writ in water." 

ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE. 

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains 

My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, 
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains 

One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk; 
Tis not through envy of thy happy lot, 

But being too happy in thy happiness, — 
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees, 

In some melodious plot 
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, 

Singest of summer in full-throated ease. 

******** 



MODERN TIMES. 161 

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird ! 

No hungry generations tread thee down; 
The voice I hear this passing night was heard 

In ancient days by emperor and clown : 
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path 

Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, 
She stood in tears amid the alien corn; 

The same that oft-times hath 
Charmed magic casements, opening on the foam 

Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn. 

Forlorn ! the very word is like a bell 

To toll me back from thee to my sole self! 
Adieu ! the fancy cannot cheat so well 

As she is famed to do, deceiving elf. 
Adieu ! adieu ! thy plaintive anthem fades 

Past the near meadows, over the still stream. 
Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep 

In the next valley-glades : 
Was it a vision, or a waking dream? 

Fled is that music : — do I wake or sleep ? 

Robert Browning (1812-1889). — The important facts in the 
life of this poet are, briefly stated, as follows : He was 
born in Peckham, a suburb of London, May 7, 1812. 
His parents were cultured and intelligent, of mixed de- 
scent from English, Scottish and German ancestors. His 
school education was not extensive. He attended pri- 
vate schools until he reached his fourteenth year, and 
afterward attended a few lectures at University College, 
London. In 1838 he visited Russia and Italy, and con- 
ceived so warm an affection for the latter country that 
it became his favorite haunt. 

September 6, 1846, he married the gifted poetess, Eliza- 
beth Barrett, and the relations which existed between 
them form almost an ideal of married life. In 1861 Mrs. 
Browning died, and a few months later Robert Brown- 
11 



162 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

ing wrote his hymn to death, " Prospice." He died De- 
cember 12, 1889, and on the last day of the year was 
buried in Westminster Abbey. 

Browning's powers are variously estimated. Many 
place him next to Tennyson, others, more enthusiastic, 
reckon him the greatest poet since Shakespeare, while 
not a few contend that his art is so deficient as almost to 
exclude him from the circle of poets. His writings are 
certainly obscure, rugged and unmusical, but original, 
strong and earnest. Of " Sordello," the story of a soul, it 
is said that Tennyson found in its six thousand lines but 
two which were intelligible, and these are not true; they 
are the first and the last : 

Who will may hear Sordello's story told. 
Who would has heard Sordello's story told. 

In his portraits of priests and monks, Browning rouses 
repellent instincts in every Catholic heart. 

His most popular poems are " The Pied Piper of 
Hamelin," " How They Brought the Good News from 
Ghent to Aix," "A Blot on the Scutcheon " and " Pippa 
Passes.'' 

PROSPICE.* 

Fear death? — to feel the fog in my throat, 

The mist in my face, 
When the snows begin, and the blasts denote 

I am nearing the place, 
The power of the night, the press of the storm, 

The post of the foe; 
Where he stands, the Arch Fear in a visible form 

Yet the strong man must go: 
For the journey is done and the summit attained, 

And the barriers fall, 



1 Prospice means " look forward. 




ROBERT BROWNING. 



MODERN TIMES. 165 

Though a battle's to fight ere the guerdon be gained, 

The reward of it all. 
I was ever a fighter, so — one fight more, 

The best and the last! 
I would hate that death bandaged my eyes, and forbore, 

And bade me creep past. 



Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1809-1861).— The earliest years 
of this writer were passed under the happiest influ- 
ences. She was educated with great care by private 
tutors, and her gift for learning was so great that it is 
said she could read Homer in the original at eight years 
of age. When about fifteen, she was so severely injured 
by a fall while riding, that she was an invalid for years. 
One compensation for the comparative seclusion of her 
life was the acquirement of that wealth of ancient lore 
which has added to her poetry a classic grace and finish. 

Her most important poems are " Aurora Leigh " and 
" Casa Guidi Windows." The latter is a specimen of the 
injustice and abuse to which even genius and culture 
may descend. It is a description of events in Italy during 
the revolution, and in it she reviles the saintly Pope Pius 
IX. with all the acrimony of her heart. The " Sonnets 
from the Portuguese," which in reality are original, ap- 
peal to the most delicate and tender feelings of the soul. 

THE SLEEP. 

Of all the thoughts of God that are 
Borne inward unto souls afar, 

Along the Psalmist's music deep, 
Now tell me if that any is 
For gift or grace surpassing this — 
"He giveth His beloved sleep"? 



166 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

What would we give to our beloved? 
The hero's heart to be unmoved — 

The poet's star-tuned harp to sweep — 
The senate's shout to patriot's vows — 
The monarch's crown, to light the brows? 

" He giveth his beloved sleep." 

What do we give to our beloved? 
A little faith, all undisproved — 

A little dust to overweep — 
And bitter memories, to make 
The whole earth blasted for our sake! 

" He giveth His beloved sleep." 



Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834).— Samuel Taylor Cole- 
ridge was born at Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire, Eng- 
land, in 1772. His childhood was a strange one; when 
but three years of age he read the Bible, when but 
six, he had read " Belisarius," " Philip Quarll " and the 
"Arabian Nights." He studied at Cambridge, 1791-94, 
with some interruptions, and left without a degree. He 
had no ambition and at one time settled upon shoemaking 
as a means of escaping from school. With Southey and 
others he formed the project of establishing a commu- 
nistic society on the Susquehanna River, but this plan was 
abandoned owing to want of funds. In 1795 he married 
Sara Fricker, the sister of Southey's wife, and during the 
first three years of his married life he lived at Keswick, 
in Cumberland, near the Lakes, where Wordsworth and 
Southey resided. Hence the appellation of " Lake poets " 
given to the three distinguished friends. 

In 1796, he took opium to allay neuralgic pain, and 
this laid the foundation of a habit which exerted a bane- 
ful influence upon him. In 1806, he became the guest 



MODERN TIMES. 167 

of Mr. Gilman, a physician of London, with whom he 
spent the rest of his life. 

The literary character of Coleridge resembles some 
vast unfinished palace ; all is beautiful and rich, but noth- 
ing is complete: yet the wonderful charm of his conver- 
sation, the spell of his enthusiasm, influenced the opin- 
ions of some of the finest minds of his time. Few men 
ever possessed more learning and knowledge than he pos- 
sessed, and yet how few of his works are in any way 
worthy of his genius ! The poem by which he is best 
known is " The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," a strange 
narrative in which an air of antiquity harmonizes with 
the spectral character of the events. The " Ode to Mont 
Blanc " is one of the most sublime productions of the 
kind in the English language. His " Lectures " on 
Shakespeare are unrivaled in their power of giving an 
insight into the breadth and grasp of Shakespeare's 
genius. The poem " Christabel " is exquisitely versified, 
but is in an unfinished condition. Some of his minor 
poems for their richness of coloring and for their perfect 
finish can be compared only to the flowers which spring 
up into loveliness at the touch of nature. 

ODE TO MONT BLANC. 

Hast thou a charm to stay the morning star 
In his steep course? So long he seems to pause 
On thy bald awful head, O sovran Blanc! 
The Arve and Arveiron at thy base 
Rave ceaselessly ; but thou, most awful Form ! 
Risest from forth thy silent sea of pines, 
How silently! Around thee and above, 
Deep is the air, and dark, substantial black, 
An ebon mass : methinks thou piercest it 
As with a wedge! But when I look again, 



168 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

It is thine own calm home, thy crystal shrine, 
Thy habitation from Eternity! 

dread and silent Mount! I gazed upon thee, 
Till thou, still present to my bodily sense, 

Didst vanish from my thought ; entranced in prayer 

1 worshiped the Invisible alone. 

******* 

George Gordon Byron (1788-1824). — George Gordon, Lord 
Byron, was born in London in 1788. His early 
childhood was spent in alternations of wealth and pov- 
erty, until the death of his grand-uncle, the fifth Lord 
Byron ; then he inherited, with the baronial title, large 
estates and the beautiful residence of Newstead Abbey, 
near Nottingham. This abbey was originally an Au- 
gustinian monastery, founded by Henry II., and granted 
to John Byron by Henry VIII. at the time of the spolia- 
tion of the monasteries. 

Byron studied at Harrow and at Oxford, where he be- 
came notorious for the irregularities of his conduct. He 
abandoned England in 1816 and led a life of dissipation 
on the continent. In 1823 he joined the Greek insurgents 
at Cephalonia, and in the following year became the 
commander-in-chief at Missolonghi. Here he was at 
tacked by a fit of epilepsy and died in 1824. He was 
buried at Newstead Abbey. 

Byron was a great genius, but he was not a great 
poet. His works contain some majestic descriptions, 
fine imagery and noble sentiments, but their general tone 
is misanthropic, irreligious and immoral. His finest poem 
is " Childe Harold." Among the best of his other works 
are "The Dream," " The Prisoner of Chillon," " Ma- 
zeppa," " The Giaour " and " The Siege of Corinth." His 
longest and most brilliant poem is " Don Juan," but it is 
unfit to read on account of its coarseness. Even where it 




LORD BYRON. 



MODERN TIMES. 171 

is free from this defect it is imbued with cold and sneer- 
ing cynicism in regard to all the nobler qualities of human 
nature. 

CHILDE HAROLD. CANTO III. 

It is the hush of night, and all between 

The margin and the mountains, dusk, yet clear, 
Mellowed and mingling, yet distinctly seen, 

Save darkened Jura, whose capt heights appear 
Precipitously steep ; and drawing near, 

There breathes a living fragrance from the shore 
Of flowers yet fresh with childhood ; on the ear 

Drops the light drip of the suspended oar, 
Or chirps the grasshopper one good-night carol more. 

He is an evening reveller, who makes 

His life an infancy, and sings his fill ; 
At intervals, some bird from out the brakes 

Starts into voice a moment, then is still. 
There seems a floating whisper on the hill ; 

But that is fancy, for the starlight dews 
All silently their tears of love instil. 

Thomas Moore (1779=1852). — Thomas Moore was born 
in Dublin and was educated at Trinity College, in his 
native city. Being a Catholic, many of the avenues to 
public distinction were then closed to him by the in- 
vidious laws that oppressed his country and his religion. 
After distinguishing himself at the University of Dublin, 
he went to London with the intention of studying law, 
but he soon began his career as a poet. He first appeared 
as the translator of the " Odes of Anacreon." This work 
obtained for him an introduction into fashionable life. 
His many natural gifts made him a favorite in society; 
great conversational talents, an agreeable voice and a 
fair degree of musical skill enabled him to give effect 



172 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

to his songs. During his entire life he was the spoiled 
child of popularity. 

His " Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of a Re- 
ligion " is a controversial work which deserves especial 
notice. In the arrangement and moulding of the mat- 
ter of this work, we see the workings of a mind eminently 
active, vigorous and original. His poetical writings con- 
sist chiefly of lyrics, the most famous among them 
being the " Irish Melodies." In 1817 appeared the cele- 
brated Oriental romance, " Lalla Rookh." The prose of 
the work is inimitably beautiful ; the style is sparkling with 
Oriental gems and perfumed with Oriental spices. The 
story forms a setting to four poems, " The Veiled 
Prophet," " The Fire Worshipers," " Paradise and. the 
Peri," and " The Light of the Harem," all of an Eastern 
character, and the first two to some extent historical. 

Moore's excellence consists in the gracefulness of 
his thoughts and sentiments, and the music of his versifi- 
cation. His great fault is the irreverence and indelicacy 
of some of his poems. During the last three years of his 
life he suffered a lingering disease, which gradually ener- 
vated his mind and finally reduced him to a state of im- 
becility. He died in 1852. 

THOU ART, O GOD! 

Thou art, O God ! the light and life 

Of all this wondrous world we see; 
Its glow by day, its smile by night, 

Are but reflections caught from Thee. 
Where'er we turn, Thy glories shine, 
And all things fair and bright are Thine. 

When day, with farewell beam, delays 
Among the opening clouds of even, 






MODERN TIMES. 173 

And we can almost think we gaze 

Through golden vistas into Heaven; 
Those lines that make the sun's decline 
So soft, so radiant, Lord! are Thine. 

When night, with wings of starry gloom, 

O'ershadows all the earth and skies, 

Like some dark, beauteous bird, whose plume 

Is sparkling with unnumbered eyes ; — 
That sacred gloom, those fires divine, 
So grand, so countless, Lord! are Thine. 

When youthful spring around us breathes, 
Thy spirit warms her fragrant sigh ; 

And every flower the summer wreathes 
Is born beneath that kindling eye. 

Where'er we turn, Thy glories shine, 

And all things fair and bright are Thine. 

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), the most poetical of 
poets, was the eldest son of a baronet. At the age of 
eighteen years his " Defense of Atheism " caused his 
expulsion from Oxford. He was drowned in the Bay of 
Spezzia, Italy, in 1822. He wrote several dramas, but 
he is essentially a lyric poet, and as such is unexcelled. 
"The Skylark," "The Sensitive Plant" and " The 
Cloud," are unequaled for beauty of language. 

THE CLOUD. 

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, 

From the sea and the streams ; 
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid 

In their noon-day dreams. 
From my wings are shaken the dews that waken 

The sweet birds every one, 
When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, 

As she dances about the sun. 



174 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

I wield the flail of the lashing hail, 

And whiten the green plains under; 

And then again I dissolve it in rain ; 
And laugh as I pass in thunder. 



I sift the snow on the mountains below, 

And their great pines groan aghast; 
And all the night 'tis my pillow white, 

While I sleep in the arms of the blast. 
Sublime on the towers of my skyey bowers, 

Lightning, my pilot, sits; 
In a cavern under is fettered the thunder; 

It struggles and howls at fits. 
Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion, 

This pilot is guiding me, 
Lured by the love of the genii that move 

In the depths of the purple sea; 
Over the rills, and the crags, and the hills, 

Over the lakes and the plains; 
Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream, 

The spirit he loves remains; 
And I all the while bask in heaven's blue smile, 

Whilst he is dissolving in rains. 



That orbed maiden with white fire laden, 

Whom mortals call the moon, 
Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor 

By the midnight breezes strewn; 
And wherever the beat of her unseen feet, 

Which only the angels hear, 
May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roof, 

The stars peep behind her and peer ; 
And I laugh to see them whirl and flee, 

Like a swarm of golden bees, 
When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent, 

Till the calm rivers, lakes and seas, 
Like strips of the sky fallen through me on high, 

Are each paved with the moon and these. 



MODERN TIMES. 175 

Thomas Campbell (1777-1844) was distinguished for both 
prose and poetry. His most important work is " The 
Pleasure of Hope," in which graceful diction and 
careful finish are blended with ardent poetical sensibility ; 
but he excels in his lyrics, which are charming in their 
ideal loveliness and depth of feeling. Among the best 
of these are " Lochiel's Warning," " Hohenlinden," " Ger- 
trude of Wyoming " and " Ye Mariners of England." 

HOHENLINDEN. 

On Linden, when the sun was low, 
All bloodless lay the untrodden snow, 
And dark as winter was the flow 
Of Iser, rolling rapidly. 

But Linden saw another sight 
When the drum beat at dead of night, 
Commanding fires of death to light 
The darkness of her scenery. 

By torch and trumpet fast arrayed, 
Each horseman drew his battle-blade, 
And furious every charger neighed 
To join the dreadful revelry. 



Then shook the hills, with thunder riven 
Then rushed the steed, to battle driven; 
And louder than the bolts of Heaven 
Far flashed the red artillery. 

But redder yet that light shall glow 
On Linden's hills of stained snow, 
And bloodier yet the torrent flow 
Of Iser, rolling rapidly. 



176 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

'Tis morn; but scarce yon level sun 
Can pierce the war-clouds, rolling dun, 
Where furious Frank and fiery Hun 

Shout in their sulphurous canopy. 

The combat deepens. On, ye brave, 

Who rush to glory or the grave ! 
Wave, Munich, all thy banners wave, 

And charge with all thy chivalry. 

Few, few shall part where many meet! 
The snow shall be their winding-sheet; 
And every turf beneath their feet 
Shall be a soldier's sepulcher. 

Adelaide Anne Proctor (1824=1864), daughter of the poet 
" Barry Cornwall," has won an enduring place in 
the hearts of all lovers of chaste, refined and tender 
poetry. In 1851 she became a convert to the Catholic 
faith and her verse echoes the piety which animated her 
life. Her works appear in two volumes, entitled " Legends 
and Lyrics," and " A Chaplet of Verses." 

THROUGH PEACE TO LIGHT. 

I do not ask, O Lord! that life may be 

A pleasant road; 
I do not ask that Thou wouldst take from me 

Aught of its load; 
I do not ask that flowers should always spring 

Beneath my feet; 
I know too w r ell the poison and the sting 

Of things too sweet. 
For one thing only, Lord, dear Lord! I plead: 

Lead me aright — 
Though strength should falter, and though heart should bleed — 

Through peace to light. 



.MODERN TIMES. 177 

I do not ask, O Lord, that Thou shouldst shed 

Full radiance here; 
Give but a ray of peace, that I may tread 

Without a fear. 

I do not ask my cross to understand; 

My way to see — 
Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand, 

And follow Thee. 
Joy is like restless day, but peace divine 

Like quiet night. 
Lead me, O Lord ! till perfect day shall shine 

Through peace to light. 

Dennis Florence MacCarthy (1818=1882) was a Catholic poet, 
distinguished for the graceful tenderness and religious 
tone of his verse. He is also noted for his translations 
from Calderon, the Spanish Shakespeare. He excelled 
in lyric poetry, and published several volumes of poems. 

SUMMER LONGINGS. 

Ah ! my heart is weary waiting, 

Waiting for the May — 
Waiting for the pleasant rambles 
Where the fragrant hawthorn brambles, 
With the woodbine alternating, 

Scent the dewy way. 
Ah ! my heart is weary waiting, 
Waiting for the May — 

Ah ! my heart is sick with longing, 

Longing for the May, — 
Longing to escape from study 
To the young face fair and ruddy, 

And the thousand charms belonging 

To the summer's day. 
Ah ! my heart is sick with longing, 
Longing for the May. 



12 



178 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Waiting sad, dejected, weary, 

Waiting for the May — 
Spring goes by with wasted warnings, — 
Moonlit evenings, sunbright mornings, — 
Summer comes, yet dark and dreary 

Life still ebbs away; 
Man is ever weary, weary, 
Waiting for the May! 

Christina Georgiana Rossetti (1830=1894), sister of the poet 
and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was born in London, 
December 5, 1830. Her poems are of varying worth, 
betraying the writer's earnest, impulsive, somewhat in- 
considerate nature. 

WEARY. 

I would have gone; God bade me stay; 

I would have worked; God bade me rest. 
He broke my will from day to day ; 

He read my yearnings unexpressed, 
And said them nay. 

Now I would stay; God bids me go; 

Now I would rest; God bids me work. 
He breaks my heart, tossed to and fro ; 

My soul is vexed with thoughts that lurk, 
And vex it so ! 

I go, Lord, where Thou sendest me; 

Day after day I plod and moil; 
But, Christ my God, when will it be 

That I may let alone my toil, 
And rest with Thee? 

Robert Southey (1774=1835) was one of the most prolific 
writers of the age, yet he is said to have burned in ten 
years more verses than he published during his whole 
life. In biography he has not been surpassed. His best 
works are " Life of Nelson," " Life of Cowper " and 



MODERN TIMES. 179 

" Life of Wesley." His best poems are " Thalaba " and 
" The Curse of Kehama." 

John Keble (1792-1866), an Anglican clergyman, is best 
known by his " Christian Year." This is a collection 
of religious poems adapted to the liturgical services of 
the year. With Newman and Pusey, Keble had a large 
share in the Tractarian movement. 

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) is widely known through 
his designs for illustrated works. With Holman Hunt, 
Millais and others, he founded the " Pre-Raphaelite " 
school of painting. As a poet he is associated with a 
school of latter-day singers. He wrote " The Blessed 
Damozel," " Mary Magdalene," " The Sea-Limits " and 
other poems. 

Samuel Rogers (1763=1855) was a London banker, a poet 
and a giver of famous breakfasts in his beautiful home 
in St. James's Place. His principal poems are " The 
Pleasures of Memory," " Human Life " and " Italy." 

Thomas Davis (1814-1845) by his poems did more than any 
other Irishman to unite his people under O'Connell's 
leadership. The far-famed " Fontenoy," " The Rivers " 
and " The Lament for the Death of Owen Roe O'Neill," 
are among his best productions. 

Thomas Hood (1798-1845) stands in the first rank as a 
writer of humorous poems, but through his mirth runs 
a deep vein of melancholy pathos. 



CHAPTER VI. 

John Henry, Cardinal Newman. 

John Henry Newman was born February 21, 1801. His 

father was a London banker, his mother was of Hugue- 
not extraction. The boy gave early evidence of great 
talent and deep religious convictions, and seems to 
have imbibed strong and bitter prejudices against the 
Catholic Church. At the age of sixteen he entered Trinity 
College, Oxford, and he became a Fellow of Oriel Col- 
lege in 1822. For some time, he was vice-principal of St. 
Alban Hall, under the distinguished Dr. Whately, and, 
in 1826, was a tutor of Oriel. From 1828 to 1843, ne 
held the position of vicar of St. Mary's, Oxford, and, in 
1830, was appointed one of the select preachers to the 
university. 

His first important literary work, though he had 
already sent forth several essays which were favorably 
received, was a history of " The Arians of the Fourth 
Century," in 1832. The study and labor required in the 
preparation of this work seriously undermined his health, 
and he was persuaded to take a journey to Italy. While 
in Rome, he held himself aloof from Catholic influences, 
but he called twice upon Dr. Wiseman, who was at 
that time rector of the English College in Rome. 

In Sicily, he was attacked by a long and dangerous 

illness. His attendants despaired of his recovery, but he 

reassured them, saying : " I shall not die. I have not 

sinned against light." He declared afterward that he 

180 










CARDINAL NEWMAN. 



MODERN TIMES. 183 

did not know what he meant by these strange words. On 
his return voyage he was becalmed a whole week in the 
Straits of Bonifacio, and while there he wrote these ex- 
quisite lines, which have found an echo and touched the 
most sacred hidden springs in every heart to which they 
have become known: 

THE PILLAR OF THE CLOUD. 

Lead, kindly Light, amid th' encircling gloom, 

Lead Thou me on ! 
The night is dark, and I am far from home — 

Lead Thou me on ! 
Keep Thou my feet ; I do not ask to see 
The distant scene — one step enough for me. 

I was not ever thus, nor pray'd that Thou 

Shouldst lead me on ! 
I loved to choose and see my path, but now 

Lead Thou me on ! 
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, 
Pride ruled my will : remember not past years. 

So long Thy power has blest me, sure it still 

Will lead me on 
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till 

The night is gone ; 
And with the morn those angel faces smile 
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile. 

The great spiritual reaction in England, known as the 
Oxford or Tractarian movement, attracted the attention 
not only of Englishmen, but of the entire world. Among 
the boldest, and yet in some respects the most conserva- 
tive of the writers of the famous " Tracts for the Times," 
was John Henry Newman. Secure as he believed him- 
self to be in the orthodoxy of the Anglican form of belief, 
he examined fearlessly and candidly all sides of the ques- 



184 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

tion. Inch by inch he fought his way,, and step by step the 
ground crumbled beneath his feet, until he found himself 
upon the threshold of the Roman Catholic Church. In 
1843 ne resigned his position as vicar of St. Mary's, after 
making a formal retraction of the harsh things he had said 
against the Church of Rome. On October 9th, in the year 
1845, ne was received into the Catholic Church, and was 
confirmed on the Feast of All Saints. After studying for 
about three years in Rome he was ordained, and was 
commissioned by Pope Pius IX. to establish the Ora- 
torians, or the order of St. Philip Neri, in England. In 
looking back upon his influence, both at Oxford and all 
over the country, we must attribute it not to his talents, 
nor to his eloquence, nor even to his pure and beautiful 
religious writings, but to the individuality of honesty, of 
simplicity with earnestness, which made the man a more 
potent teacher than the theologian. He was so indubitably 
honest, so simple-natured and above the smallest prevari- 
cation, that when he put pen to paper all Protestants liked 
to read, because they knew he believed all he said. His 
influence on the nation was a half-conscious education, 
leading Protestants to see clearly that a master mind, 
which was Roman Catholic, could be as childlike in hon- 
esty as it was full of faith. 

Historian, controversialist, poet, theologian and, in- 
deed, we may venture to add, saint, the late Cardinal 
Newman was also the first essayist of his time ; rivalling 
in lucidity, in coloring, in depth, those masters whom we 
have been accustomed to take as models, and perhaps 
surpassing them in the charm of individuality, that in- 
definable and rare gift of nature. His language was a 
faultless instrument, and he played on it as a faultless 
master. Could anything in oratory be more beautiful 



MODERN TIMES. 185 

than his sermon on " The Second Spring," which even 
Lord Macaulay is said to have learned by heart as one 
of the purest gems in the English language? As to his 
power as a preacher, Mr. Froude says : " That voice, so 
keen, so preternaturally sweet, its very whisper used to 
thrill through crowded churches, when every breath was 
held to hear." 

Of the thirty-four volumes published by Cardinal New- 
man, twelve comprise his " Sermons ; " ten are mainly po- 
lemical. The others are " Historical Sketches," " Lec- 
tures on Universities," "Lectures on the Turks," "Essays 
on Cicero, Apollonius of Tyana and some of the Fathers 
of the Third Century," " Loss and Gain," " The Grammar 
of Assent," and "Verses on Various Occasions," contain- 
ing the " Dream of Gerontius." In 1864 Canon Kingsley 
made a most violent attack upon Dr. Newman in the 
columns of MacMillan's Magazine. This finally drew 
from the victim his famous " Apologia Pro Vita Sua," 
one of the most masterly productions in the English lan- 
guage, as it is one of the most interesting, in which the 
author gives the history of his religious opinions from his 
earliest recollections and unveils the workings of the 
religious revolution of 1833, in which he was one of the 
great leaders. 

The last sermon preached by Cardinal Newman was 
on Easter Sunday, 1887. His last public utterance was 
a blessing upon the Catholic Truth Society, whose con- 
gress was held in July, 1890. His death was imme- 
diately occasioned by a sudden attack of pneumonia. 
Lamartine says a man can be judged only by his peers; 
where then shall we find one worthy of the task of analyz- 
ing the character of this great man, whose lofty genius, 
utter disregard of selfish advancement and childlike 



186 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

docility to the voice of faith combined to form a peer- 
less character? 

The " Dream of Gerontius " is one of the most original 
poems of the century. The saintly poet who wrote this 
modern gem has now passed into the eternal home for 
which he lived, and we can now dream of him as saying : 

I went to sleep ; and now I am refreshed. 

A strange refreshment; for I feel in me 

An inexpressive lightness, and a sense 

Of freedom, as I were at length myself, 

And ne'er had been before. How still it is ! 

I hear no more the busy beat of time, 

No, nor my fluttering breath, nor struggling pulse; 

Nor does one moment differ from the next. 

I had a dream ; yes — some one softly said, 

" He's gone : " and then a sigh went round the room. 

And then I surely heard a priestly voice 

Cry " Subvenite ; " and they knelt in prayer. 

I seem to hear him still ; but thin and low, 

And fainter and more faint the accents come 

As at an ever-widening interval. 

Ah! whence is this? What is this severance? 

This silence pours a solitariness 

Into the very essence of my soul; 

And the deep rest, so soothing and so sweet, 

Hath something, too, of sternness and of pain, 

For it drives back my thoughts upon their spring 

By a strange introversion, and perforce 

I now begin to feed upon myself, 

Because I have naught else to feed upon. 

Am I alive or dead? I am not dead, 
But in the body still ; for I possess 
A sort of confidence, which clings to me, 
That each particular organ holds its place 
As heretofore, combining with the rest 
Into one symmetry, that wraps me round, 



MODERN TIMES. 187 

And makes me man ; and surely I could move, 

Did I but will it, every part of me. 

And yet I cannot to my sense bring home, 

By very trial that I have the power. 

Tis strange : I cannot stir a hand or foot, 

I cannot make my fingers or my lips 

By mutual pressure witness each to each, 

Nor by the eyelid's instantaneous stroke 

Assure myself I have a body still. 

Nor do I know my very attitude, 

Nor if I stand, or lie, or sit, or kneel. 

So much I know, not knowing how I know, 

That the vast universe, where I have dwelt, 

Is quitting me, or I am quitting it. 

Or I or it is rushing on the wings 

Of light or lightning on an onward course, 

And we e'en now are million miles apart. 

Then Gerontius becomes aware of evil beings who 
are hungering after him and is told by his Guardian 
Angel that : 

It is a restless panting of their being ; 

Like beasts of prey, who caged within their bars 

In a deep, hideous purring have their life, 

And an incessant pacing to and fro. 

The dream virtually ends with this passionate expres- 
sion of heart-rending anguish and heart-healing hope : 

Take me away, and in the lowest deep 

There let me be, 
And there in hope the lone night-watches keep, 

Told out for me; 
There, motionless and happy in my pain, 

Lone, not forlorn — 
There will I sing my sad perpetual strain 

Until the morn. 



188 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

There will I sing, and soothe my stricken breast, 

Which ne'er can cease 
To throb and pine and languish, till possest 

Of its Sole Peace; 

Nicholas Patrick (Cardinal) Wiseman (1802-1865). 

Nicholas Patrick Wiseman was born in Seville, Spain, 
and was educated at St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw. In 
1818 he went to Rome as a student of the English Col- 
lege, where he attracted attention by the publication of 
his first book, " Horae Syriacae," a treatise on Oriental 
languages. He was ordained priest in his twenty-third 
year, but on account of his extraordinary abilities he was 
not allowed to return to England at once, but was re- 
tained in Rome, filling various positions of great respon- 
sibility. 

The Papal Bull of 1850 having restored the Roman 
Catholic hierarchy in England, Dr. Wiseman was ap- 
pointed Archbishop of Westminster, and was created 
Cardinal. In England intense excitement followed these 
acts, but the Cardinal by his consummate prudence suc- 
ceeded in allaying the storm. 

His lectures " On the Connection between the Arts of 
Design and the Art of Production," and " On the High- 
ways of Peaceful Commerce as Being the Highways of 
Art," show great learning and unusual versatility of mind. 
His " Fabiola, or the Church of the Catacombs " is a mas- 
terpiece of narrative. Brownson says of it : " It is a most 
charming book, a truly popular work and alike pleasing 
to the scholar and the general reader. It is the first work 
of the kind we have read, in any language, in which 
truly pious and devout sentiment, and the loftiest and 
richest imagination, are so blended, so fused together, 
that the one never jars on the other." Among his other 



MODERN TIMES. 189 

works we may mention " Essays on Various Subjects," 
" Recollections of the Last Four Popes," sermons, lec- 
tures and speeches. His style was polished, sometimes 
perhaps too florid. He was a profound linguist, a man 
of great achievements and still greater aims. No man 
was ever more earnest than he in his devotion to his relig- 
ion, and his name is indissolubly connected with the 
re-establishment of Catholicity in England. 

THE MARTYRDOM OF SEBASTIAN, FROM FABIOLA. 

His prayer, till morning, was a gladsome hymn of glory 
and honor to the King of kings, a joining with the seraph's 
glowing eyes, and ever-shaking wings, in restless homage. 
Then when the stars in the bright heavens caught his eyes, 
lie challenged them as wakeful sentinels^ like himself, to ex- 
change the watchword of Divine praises; and as the night- 
wind rustled in the leafless trees of the neighboring court of 
Adonis, he bade its wayward music compose itself, and its 
rude harping upon the vibrating boughs form softer hymns, — 
the only ones that earth could utter in its winter night hours. 

Sebastian was conducted into the court of the palace which 
separated the quarters of the African archers from his own 
dwelling. Here he was stripped and bound to a tree while 
the archers took their stand opposite, cool and collected. It 
was at best a desolate sort of death. Not a friend, not a sym- 
pathizer near ; not one fellow-Christian to bear his farewell 
to the faithful, or to record for them his last accents and the 
constancy of his end. To stand in the middle of the crowded 
amphitheater, with a hundred thousand witnesses of Chris- 
tian constancy, to see the encouraging looks of many, and 
hear the whispered blessings of a few loving acquaintances, 
had something cheering and almost inspiring in it ; it lent at 
least the feeble aid of human emotions to the more powerful 
sustainment of grace. But this dead and silent scene, at dawn 
of day, shut up in the court of a house; this being with most 
unfeeling indifference tied up like a truss of hay or a stuffed 
figure, to be coolly aimed at, according to the tyrant's orders ; 



190 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

this being alone in the midst of a horde of swarthy savages 
whose very language was strange, uncouth and unintelligible; 
all this had more the appearance of a piece of cruelty, about 
to be acted in a gloomy forest by banditti, than open and 
glorious confession of Christ's name; it looked and felt more 
like assassination than martyrdom. 

But Sebastian cared not for all this. Angels looked over the 
wall upon him ; and the rising sun, which dazzled his eyes, 
but made him a clearer mark for the bowmen, shone not more 
brightly on him than did the countenance of the only Witness 
he cared to have. 

The first Moor drew his bow-string to his ear, and an arrow 
trembled in the flesh of Sebastian. Each chosen marksman 
followed in turn; and shouts of applause accompanied each 
hit, so cleverly approaching, yet avoiding, according to the 
imperial order, every vital part. It was indeed a dreary death ; 
yet this was not the worst. After all, death came not; the 
golden gates remained unbarred; the martyr in heart was re- 
served for greater glory even upon earth. His tormentors 
saw when they had reached their intended measure; they cut 
the cords that bound him, and Sebastian fell exhausted, and 
to all appearance dead. Did he lie like a noble warrior, as he 
now appears in marble under his altar in his own dear church? 
We at least cannot imagine him as more beautiful. And not 
only that church do we love, but that ancient chapel which 
stands in the midst of the ruined Palatine, to mark the spot 
on which he fell. 

Henry Edward (Cardinal) Manning (1808-1892). —Henry 
Edward Manning, the son of a merchant and 
member of Parliament, was born in London, and was 
educated at Harrow and at Oxford. He was elected 
Fellow of Merton College in 1830, and shortly afterward 
became a clergyman of the Anglican Church. In 1834 
he was appointed rector of Lavington, and was promoted 
to the archdeaconry of Chichester in 1840. He was 
regarded as one of the brightest ornaments of the Es- 
tablished Church, and for eighteen years faithfully per- 




CARDINAL MANNING. 



MODERN TIMES. 193 

formed the duties of his charge, until the results of the 
famous Hampden and Gorham controversies 1 led him 
to doubt the Anglican position. Abandoning all present 
honors and future dignities, he embraced the Roman 
Catholic faith, and as the death of his wife had left him 
free, he became a priest. As a Catholic priest he exer- 
cised his ministry among the poor of London, until he 
was appointed, in 1865, to succeed Cardinal Wiseman 
as Archbishop of Westminster. In 1870 he took an act- 
ive part in the deliberations of the Vatican Council, and 
five years later, Pope Pius IX. called him to the Sacred 
College of Cardinals. 

The literary productions of Cardinal Manning are in 
the form of lectures, sermons and reviews. His principal 
works are " Lectures on the Four Great Evils of the Day," 
" The Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost," " The In- 
ternal Mission of the Holy Ghost," " The Love of Jesus 
to Penitents " and " Lectures on the Four-fold Sover- 
eignty of God." These are remarkable for their simple 
and direct eloquence, broadness of view, closeness of rea- 
soning and clearness and energy of style. 



1 In 1847 the Crown appointed Dr. Hampden to the Episco- 
pal See of Hereford, notwithstanding the fact that many bish- 
ops and other clergymen looked upon him as a heretic and 
protested against this nomination. The Archbishop of Can- 
terbury, Dr. Sumner, declared publicly that he was bound to 
obey the Crown and consecrate Dr. Hampden. 

In 1849 Mr. Gorham was nominated to a benefice but was 
rejected by the bishop on the plea that Mr. Gorham denied 
baptismal regeneration. An appeal was made to the judicial 
committee of the Privy Council, which decided that notwith- 
standing his denial of baptismal regeneration, Mr. Gorham 
was entitled to act as a clergyman of the Church of Eng- 
land. 

13 



194 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 



INTO THE LIKENESS OF GOD. 

We know that friends who love one another become like to 
one another ; they catch the very tones of each other's voices ; 
they exchange the very look of each other's countenances — 
features the most dissimilar acquire a strange likeness in expres- 
sion. So it is with our souls, if we live in the habit of prayer, 
that is, in conversing or in speaking with God. When Stephen 
stood before the council, his face shone like the face of an angel. 
The light of the presence of his Master in heaven fell upon it. 
And they who live a life of prayer are being ever changed into 
the likeness of their divine Lord. I do not mean that they are 
outwardly transformed; I do not mean that there come rays out 
of their hands or their side, or that there is any resplendent light 
upon their countenances, but I mean that there is a gentleness, 
a kindness, a sweetness, an attraction about their life that makes 
everybody at peace with them. Everybody draws near to them 
with a tranquil confidence and a rest of heart. We know that 
with some people, though they are good and just, yet when we 
approach them, we have a sense of fear; but if a man has in him 
the likeness of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, there is an attraction 
that goes out from him. The world calls it fascination ; but what 
the world calls fascination is simply this, that in the measure in 
which men have the likeness of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, they 
draw others to themselves. 

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832).— Walter Scott was born in 
Edinburgh in 1771. In consequence of delicate health 
in early life, he was placed under the care of his 
grandfather in Kelso, a spot surrounded with legends, 
ruins and historic localities. He was afterward sent to 
the high school and then to the University of Edinburgh, 
but he was not noted for his scholarship. He was the 
idol of his school-fellows, who clustered about him, while 
he extemporized stories innumerable. 

His first publication was " The Minstrelsy of the Scot- 
tish Border," and its success caused him to abandon the 




SIR WALTER SCOTT. 



MODERN TIMES. 197 

profession of law and devote himself to literature. In 
1805 " The Lay of the Last Ministrel " appeared. " Mar- 
mion," " The Lady of the Lake," " Rokeby " and " The 
Lord of the Isles " followed in rapid succession and were 
received with enthusiasm. With " Rokeby " the popu- 
larity of his poetry declined; this may have been due to 
the rising glory of Byron's genius. 

The first of the inimitable " Waverley Novels " ap- 
peared anonymously in 18 14. For seventeen years he 
worked with inconceivable industry, and produced his 
long series of novels. In 1820 he received from George 
IV. the title of baronet, and at the same time immense 
profits accruing from his publications enabled him to 
possess what he had long desired, a baronial estate. The 
farm of Clarty-Hole on the Tweed became the famous 
Abbotsford, where Sir Walter entertained in princely 
fashion his hosts of distinguished visitors. 

In 1 83 1 a stroke of paralysis so shattered his mental 
powers that repose became a necessity. Partially recover- 
ing, he traveled on the continent and on his return died 
at Abbotsford, in 1832. 

FROM THE LADY OF THE LAKE. CANTO III. 

Ave Maria ! maiden mild ! 

Listen to a maiden's prayer ! 
Thou canst hear though from the wild, 

Thou canst save amid despair. 
Safe may we sleep beneath thy care, 

Though banished, outcast and reviled — 
Maiden ! hear a maiden's prayer ; 

Mother, hear a suppliant child ! 
Ave Maria! 

Ave Maria ! undefiled ! 

The flinty couch we now must share 



198 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Shall seem with down of eider piled, 

If thy protection hover there. 
The murky cavern's heavy air 

Shall breathe of balm if thou hast smiled; 
Then, Maiden! hear a maiden's prayer; 

Mother, list a suppliant child! 
Ave Maria! 

FROM MARMION. CANTO VI. 

Not far advanced was morning day, 
When Marmion did his troop array 

To Surrey's camp to ride; 
He had safe conduct for his band, 
Beneath the royal seal and hand, 

And Douglas gave a guide : 
The ancient Earl, with stately grace, 
Would Clara on her palfrey place, 
And whispered in an undertone, 
" Let the hawk stoop, his prey is flown." — 
The train from out the castle drew, 
But Marmion stopp'd to bid adieu : — 

" Though something I might plain," he said, 
" Of cold respect to stranger guest, 
Sent hither by your King's behest, 

While in Tantallon's towers I staid; 
Part we in friendship from your land, 
And, noble Earl, receive my hand." 
But Douglas round him drew his cloak, 
Folded his arms, and thus he spoke: 
" My manors, halls and towers shall still 
Be open, at my sovereign's will, 
To each one whom he lists, howe'er 
Unmeet to be the owner's peer. 
My castles are my King's alone, 
From turret to foundation-stone — 
The hand of Douglas is his own ; 
And never shall in friendly grasp 
The hand of such as Marmion clasp." 



MODERN TIMES. 199 

Burn'd Marmion's swarthy cheek like fire, 
And shook his very frame for ire. 

And " This to me ! " he said, — 
"An 'twere not for thy hoary beard, 
Such hand as Marmion's had not spared 

To cleave the Douglas' head ! 
And, first, I tell thee, haughty Peer, 
He who does England's message here, 
Although the meanest in her state, 
May well, proud Angus, be thy mate; 
And, Douglas, more I tell thee here, 

Even in thy pitch of pride, 
Here in thy hold, thy vassals near 
(Nay, never look upon your lord, 
And lay your hands upon your sword), 

I tell thee thou'rt defied ! 
And if thou said'st I am not peer 

To any lord in Scotland here, 
Lowland or Highland, far or near, 

Lord Angus, thou hast lied ! " 
On the Earl's cheek the flush of rage 
O'ercame the ashen hue of age : 
Fierce he broke forth — "And darest thou, then, 
To beard the lion in his den, 

The Douglas in his hall? 
And hopest thou hence unscathed to go? — 
No, by Saint Bride of Bothwell, no ! 
Up drawbridge, grooms — what, warder, ho ! 

Let the portcullis fall." 
Lord Marmion turn'd — well was his need, 
And dash'd the rowels in his steed, 
Like arrow through the archway sprung, 
The ponderous gate behind him rung: 
To pass there was such scanty room, 
The bars, descending, razed his plume. 

The steed along the drawbridge flies, 
Just as it trembled on the rise; 
Not lighter does the swallow skim 
Along the smooth lake's level brim : 



200 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

And when Lord Marmion reached his band, 

He halts, and turn'd, with clenched hand, 

And shout of loud defiance pours, 

And shook his gauntlet at the towers. 

" Horse ! horse ! " the Douglas cried, " and chase ! " 

But soon he reined his fury's pace : 

"A royal messenger he came, 

Though most unworthy of the name. — 

A letter forged ! Saint Jude to speed ! 

Did ever Knight so foul a deed! 

At first in heart it liked me ill 

When the King praised his clerkly skill. 

Thanks to Saint Bothan, son of mine, 

Save Gawain, ne'er could pen a line, 

So swore I, and I swear it still, 

Let my boy-bishop fret his fill. 

Saint Mary mend my fiery mood ! 

Old age ne'er cools the Douglas blood. 

I thought to slay him where he stood. 

'Tis pity of him, too," he cried : 

" Bold can he speak, and fairly ride, 

I warrant him a warrior tried." 

With this his mandate he recalls, 

And slowly seeks his castle halls. 

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859).— Thomas Bab- 
ington Macaulay, the most versatile writer of the cen- 
tury, was born in Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, Eng- 
land, in the year 1800. His works, though universally 
known, bear little indication of his personal qualities, or 
of his life, which was full of tender domestic affection. 
His fondness for reading manifested itself when he was 
but three years old, and as his memory retained without 
effort the phraseology of the book with which he had been 
last engaged, his childish conversation was exceedingly 
droll. While still a mere child he was sent to school to a 
Mr. Greaves. Mrs. Macaulay explained to her little son 










LORD MACAULAY. 



MODERN TIMES. 203 

that he must now learn to study without the solace of 
bread and butter, to which he replied : " Yes, mamma, 
industry shall be my bread and attention my butter ; " but 
as a matter of fact no one crept more unwillingly to 
school than he. In 1818 he entered Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge, and in 1821 he was elected to a Craven scholar- 
ship, the highest distinction in classics which the univer 
sity confers. It is somewhat encouraging to find such a 
character as Macaulay dreading examinations ; at school 
he wrote : " I shall not be able to avoid trembling whether 
I know my subjects or not." Of mathematics he writes: 
" Oh for words to express my abomination of that science, 
if a name sacred to the useful and embellishing arts may 
be applied to the perception and recollection of certain 
properties in numbers and figures ! " 

Leaving the university he studied law, and suddenly 
achieved a literary reputation by his celebrated article on 
Milton, which appeared in the Edinburgh Review in 1825. 
This was the first of a long series of brilliant literary and 
historical essays contributed to the same periodical. In 
1830 he entered Parliament, and was a member of the 
supreme council in India in 1834-38. In 1857 he was 
raised to the peerage with the title of Baron Macaulay. 

One of the best traits in Macaulay's character is, that 
he was just as fond of his sisters' society when he was a 
great and busy man as he had been before. His articles 
were read to them and when they criticised anything, he 
was glad to please them by changing it. They had evi- 
dently criticised the article on Mirabeau in one of their 
letters and he retaliates thus : "I am delighted to find 
that you like my article on Mirabeau, though I am angry 
with Margaret for grumbling at my Scriptural allusions, 
and still more angry with Nancy for denying my insight 



204 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

into character. It is one of my strong points. If she 
knew how far I see into hers, she would be ready to hang 
herself." He delighted in telling them all about his suc- 
cess, the compliments he received, the receptions given 
in his honor. In describing his reception at Holland 
House, he writes : 

" Fine Morning Scene, the great Entrance of Holland House. 
Enter Macaulay and two Footmen in Livery. 

First Footman. — Sir, may I venture to demand your name? 

Macaulay. — Macaulay, and thereto I add M. P. 
And that addition, e'en in these proud halls, 
May well insure the bearer some respect. 

Second Footman. — And art thou come to breakfast with our 
lord? 

Macaulay. — I am ; for so his hospitable will, 
And hers, the peerless dame ye serve — both bade. 

First Footman. — Ascend the stair and thou shalt find. 
On snow-white linen spread, the luscious meal." 

But he was not always writing nonsense, although he 
was delighted to know that his letters were found amus- 
ing or interesting. At the time he received the most en- 
thusiastic compliments, his greatest pleasure was to think 
of the happiness it would impart to his parents and sisters. 
It was happy for him, he said, that ambition in his mind 
had been softened into a kind of domestic feeling, and 
that affection had as much to do as vanity with his wish 
to distinguish himself. This, he says, he owes to his dear 
mother, and to the interest she took in his childish suc- 
cesses. From his earliest years the gratification of those 
he loved was associated with the gratification of his own 
thirst for fame, until the two became inseparably united in 
his mind. In 1858 he died suddenly of heart disease and 
was buried in Westminster Abbey. 



MODERN TIMES. 205 

In descriptive poetry, in criticism, in essay writing, in 
political papers, in oratory and especially in historical 
narration, he has shown himself to be a master. His 
" Lays of Ancient Rome " are the best known of his 
poems. In them he tells the martial stories of Horatius 
Codes, the battle of Lake Regillus, the death of Virginia, 
and the prophecy of Capys, with a simplicity and fire that 
win our hearts. His Essays and his History give him a 
high place in English classics. His writings are certainly 
attractive, but they are not safe guides in the appreciation 
of men and events. His style is thus described by Dean 
Milman : "Its characteristics were vigor and animation, 
copiousness, clearness. His copiousness had nothing 
timid, diffuse, Asiatic ; no ornament for the sake of orna- 
ment. As to its clearness, one may read a sentence of 
Macaulay twice to judge of its full force, never to com- 
prehend its meaning. His English was pure, both in 
idiom and in words, pure to fastidiousness." 

FROM THE ESSAY ON WARREN HASTINGS. 

With all Hastings's faults, and they were neither few nor 
small, only one cemetery was worthy to contain his remains. 
In that temple of silence and reconciliation, where the enmities 
of twenty generations lie buried, in the great Abbey which has 
during many ages afforded a quiet resting-place to those whose 
minds and bodies have been shattered by the contentions of the 
Great Hall, the dust of this illustrious accused statesman should 
have mingled with the dust of his illustrious accusers. This was 
not to be. Yet the place of interment was not ill-chosen. Behind 
the chancel of the parish church of Daylesford, in earth which 
already held the bones of many chiefs of the house of Hastings, 
was laid the coffin of the greatest man who has ever borne that 
ancient and widely extended name. On that very spot, probably, 
fourscore years before, the little Warren, meanly clad and scantily 
fed, had played with children of plowmen. Even then his young 



206 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

mind had revolved plans which might be called romantic. Yet, 
however romantic, it is not likely that they had been so strange 
as the truth. Not only had the poor orphan retrieved the fallen 
fortunes of his line; not only had he repurchased the eld lands, 
and rebuilt the old dwelling; he had preserved and extended an 
empire. He had founded a polity. He had administered govern- 
ment and war with more than the capacity of a Richelieu. He 
had patronized learning with the judicious liberality of Cosmo. 
He had been attacked by the most formidable combination of 
enemies that ever sought the destruction of a single victim; and 
over that combination., after a struggle of ten years, he had tri- 
umphed. He had at length gone down to his grave, in the ful- 
ness of age, in peace, after so many troubles ; in honor after so 
much obloquy. 

Those who look upon his character without favor or malev- 
olence will pronounce that, in the two great elements of all 
social virtue, in respect for the rights of others, and in sympathy 
for the sufferings of others, he was deficient. His principles were 
somewhat lax. His heart was somewhat hard. But though we 
cannot with truth describe him either as a righteous or as a 
merciful ruler, we cannot regard without admiration the ampli- 
tude and fertility of his intellect, his rare talents for command, 
for administration and for controversy, his dauntless courage, 
his honorable poverty, his fervent zeal for the interests of the 
state, his noble equanimity, tried by both extremes of fortune, 
and never disturbed by either. 

FROM THE ESSAY ON THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 

Chatham, at the time of his decease, had not in both Houses 
of Parliament ten personal adherents. Half the public men of 
the age had been estranged from him by his errors, and the other 
half by the exertions he had made to repair his errors. But 
death restored him to his old place in the affections of his country. 
Who could hear unmoved of the fall of that which had been so 
great and had stood so long? The circumstances, too, seemed 
rather to belong to the tragic stage than to real life. A great 
statesman, full of years and honors, led forth to the Senate 
House by a son of rare hopes, and stricken down in full council 
while straining his feeble voice to rouse the drooping spirit of 



MODERN TIMES. 207 

his country, could not but be remembered with peculiar venera- 
tion and tenderness. The few detractors who ventured to mur- 
mur were silenced by the indignant clamors of a nation which 
remembered only the lofty genius, the unsullied probity, the undis- 
puted services of him who was no more. For once all parties 
were agreed. A public funeral, a public monument, were eagerly 
voted. The debts of the deceased were paid. The City of London 
requested that the remains of the great man whom she had so 
long loved and honored, might rest under the dome of her mag- 
nificent cathedral. But the petition came too late. Everything 
was already prepared for the interment in Westminster Abbey. 

Chatham sleeps near the northern door of the church, in a 
spot which has ever since been appropriated to statesmen, as the 
other end of the same transept has been to poets. Mansfield rests 
there, and the second William Pitt, and Fox, and Grattan, and 
Canning, and Wilberforce. In no other cemetery do so many 
great citizens lie within so narrow a space. High over these 
venerable graves towers the stately monument of Chatham, 
and, from above his effigy, graven by a cunning hand, seems 
still, with eagle face and outstretched arm, to bid England to 
be of good cheer and hurl defiance at her foes. The generation 
which reared that memorial of him has disappeared. The time 
has come when the rash and indiscriminate judgments which 
his contemporaries passed on his character may be calmly re- 
viewed by history. And history, while, for the warning of 
vehement, high and daring natures, she notes his many errors, 
will yet deliberately pronounce, that among the eminent men 
whose bones lie near his, scarcely one has left a more stainless, 
and none a more splendid name. 

William Makepeace Thackeray (1812-1863).— William Make- 
peace Thackeray was born in Calcutta, where his 
father was employed in the service of the East India 
Company. When Thackeray was but seven years old he 
was sent to England to receive his education. He was 
placed first at the Charterhouse school, and after some 
time he entered Cambridge. The death of his father left 
him wealth, and freedom to direct his course of study. He 



208 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

left the university without taking his degree, and repaired 
to Rome and to other continental cities, where he studied 
art successfully. The loss of his fortune obliged him to 
turn his attention to literature. He wrote for the London 
Times and for other journals and periodicals, but until 
he became a contributor to Fraser's Magazine he did not 
enjoy popularity. Tales, criticism and poetry appeared 
in great profusion, and were illustrated by the author's 
own pencil, or, as he wittily said, were. " illuminated by the 
author's own candles." In 1846 appeared " Vanity Fair," 
esteemed by many the masterpiece of Thackeray's pro- 
ductions. As a whole the book is full of quiet sarcasm, 
but the lesson taught is a good one. There may be de- 
tails of evil painted almost too plainly, but none painted 
so as to allure. The greatest of his works in addition to 
" Vanity Fair " are " Pendennis," " Esmond," " The 
Newcomes," and " The Virginians." His lectures " On 
the English Humorists " and " The Four Georges " are 
models of style and criticism. 

In 1863 Thackeray died suddenly from effusion of the 
brain. A monument to his memory has been erected in 
the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbe^. 

The chief characteristic of Thackeray's writings is their 
pungent sarcasm, which, in nearly every case, he directed 
against the follies of the higher classes of society. " In a 
moral point of view his works are open to objection. The 
fundamental principle which underlies them is the total 
depravity .of human nature, rendering virtue an impossi- 
bility, and religious practice a sham. We know that the 
human power for good was weakened, not destroyed, 
by the fall of Adam, and that the grace of Christ may yet 
raise men to the sublimest virtue." 




WILLIAM M. THACKERAY. 



MODERN TIMES. 211 



FROM THE NEWCOMES. 

All the time we have been making this sketch, Ethel is stand- 
ing looking at Clive; and the blushing youth casts down his eyes 
before hers. Her face assumes a look of arch humor. . . . No 
wonder that the other May Fair nymphs were afraid of this 
severe Diana, whose looks were so cold, and whose arrows were 
so keen. 

But those who had no cause to heed Diana's shot or coldness, 
might admire her beauty; nor could the famous Parisian marble, 
which Clive said she resembled, be more perfect in form than this 
young lady. Her hair and eyebrows were jet black (these latter 
may have been too thick according to some physiognomists, giv- 
ing rather a stern expression to the eyes, and hence causing those 
guilty ones to tremble who came under her lash), but her com- 
plexion was as dazzlingly fair as Miss Rosey's own, who had a 
right to these beauties, being a blonde by nature. In Miss 
Ethel's black hair there was a natural ripple, as when a fresh 
breeze blows over the melan hudor — a ripple such as Roman 
ladies nineteen hundred years ago, and our own beauties a short 
time since, endeavored to imitate by art, paper, and, I believe, 
crumpling irons. Her eyes were gray ; her mouth rather large ; 
her teeth as regular and bright as Lady Kew's own; her voice 
low and sweet; and her smile, when it lighted up her face and 
eyes, as beautiful as spring sunshine ; also they could lighten and 
flash often, and sometimes, though rarely, rain. As for her figure 
— but as this tall, slender form is concealed in a simple white 
muslin robe (of the sort which, 1 believe, is called demi -toilette), 
in which her fair arms are enveloped, and which is confined at her 
slim waist by an azure ribbon, and descends to her feet — let us 
make a respectful bow to that fair image of Youth, Health and 
Modesty, and fancy it as pretty as we will. 

Charles Dickens (1812-1870). — Charles Dickens was born 
at Landport, Portsmouth, in 1812. His early life was 
passed in extreme poverty ; in fact, " David Copper- 
field," with its descriptions of misery and suffering, may 
be considered the autobiography of Dickens. He went 



212 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

to school for two or three years and then became a re- 
porter for some of the London newspapers. In this work 
he had a broad field for observing the characters and 
habits of the poorer classes, and he began his " Sketches 
of Life and Character," which were afterward collected 
and published as " Sketches by Boz." The book sold well, 
and its author was asked to write the adventures of a 
company of sportsmen, this work to be published in 
monthly parts, illustrated by a comic artist of the day. 
The first number appeared in 1836, bearing the title of 
''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club." Its 
success was unprecedented in English literature and its 
author became immediately famous. " Oliver Twist," 
" Nicholas Nickleby," " Barnaby Rudge" and " The Old 
Curiosity Shop " followed in quick succession, and sus- 
tained the writer's reputation. In 1842 Dickens visited 
the United States, where he was cordially welcomed, for 
his fame here was as great as in England. This visit fur- 
nished him with material for his next two works, " Ameri- 
can Notes " and " Martin Chuzzlewit," in which he keenly 
satirized some American follies. 

In 1850 he took charge of a weekly paper called House- 
hold Words, and afterward established All the Year 
Round, in which his later works were published in in- 
stallments. Among his other important works are his 
charming " Christmas Stories," " Dombey and Son," 
" Great Expectations " and " Our Mutual Friend." He 
had begun a new story, " The Mystery of Edwin Drood," 
when death overtook him. His vigorous constitution 
broke down from overwork, and he died suddenly in 1870. 
" He was certainly a moral writer, and he ^lauded the 
household virtues ; but there is a higher aspect of morality, 
one in which Catholic readers are bound to regard every 



MODERN TIMES. 213 

book which professes to deal with the condition of man ; 
and, so regarded, Dickens's works are as false as any of 
those of the undisguisedly materialistic writers of the day. 
He vaunted the nostrums of good fellowship and senti- 
mental tenderness, of human institutions, and the natural 
virtues, as remedies for sin, sorrow and the weariness of 
life. Can any writer be quite harmless who leads the 
mind of his readers so far from every source of spiritual 
enlightenment ? " 

FROM DAVID COPPERFIELD. 

The next domestic trial we went through was the Ordeal of 
Servants. Mary Anne's cousin deserted into our coal-hole, and 
was brought out, to our great amazement, by a piquet of his 
companions in arms, who took him away handcuffed in a pro- 
cession that covered our front garden with ignominy. This 
nerved me to get rid of Mary Anne, who went so mildly, on 
receipt of wages, that I was surprised, until I found out about 
the teaspoons, and also about the little sums she had borrowed in 
my name of the tradespeople without authority. After an interval 
of Mrs. Kidgerbury — the oldest inhabitant of Kentish Town, I 
believe, who went out charing, but was too feeble to execute 
her conceptions of the art — we found another treasure, who 
was one of the most amiable of women, but who generally made 
a point of falling either up or down the kitchen stairs with the 
tray, and almost plunged into the parlor, as into a bath, with the 
tea-things. The ravages committed by this unfortunate rendering 
her dismissal necessary, she was succeeded (with intervals of 
Mrs. Kidgerbury) by a long line of Incapables ; terminating in a 
young person of genteel appearance, who went to Greenwich Fair 
in Dora's bonnet. After whom I remembered nothing but an 
average equality of failure. 

Everybody we had anything to do with seemed to cheat us. 
Our appearance m a shop was a signal for the damaged goods 
to be brought out immediately. If we bought a lobster, it was 
full of water. All our meat turned out to be tough, and there 
was hardly any crust to our loaves. In search of the principle 



214 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

on which joints ought to be roasted, to be roasted enough, and 
not too much, I myself referred to the Cookery Book. ... I could 
not help wondering in my own mind, as I contemplated the boiled 
leg of mutton before me, previous to carving it, how it came to 
pass that our joints of meat were of such extraordinary shapes — 
and whether our butcher contracted for all the deformed sheep 
that came into the world; but I kept my reflections to myself. 

" My love," said I to Dora, " what have you got in that dish ? " 

" Oysters, dear," said Dora, timidly. 

" Was that your thought ? " said I, delighted. 

" Ye — yes, Doady," said Dora. 

" There never was a happier one ! " I exclaimed, laying down 
the carving-knife and fork. " There is nothing Traddles likes 
so much ! " 

" Ye — yes, Doady," said Dora, " and so I bought a beautiful 
little barrel of them, and the man said they were very good. 
But I — I am afraid there's something the matter with them. 
They don't seem right." Here Dora shook her head, and dia- 
monds twinkled in her eyes. 

" They are only opened in both shells," said I. " Take the 
top one off, my love." 

" But it won't come off," said Dora, trying very hard and 
looking very much distressed. 

" Do you know, Copperfield," said Traddles, cheerfully, ex- 
amining the dish, " I think it is in consequence — they are capital 
oysters, but I think it is in consequence of their never having 
been opened." 

They never had been opened, and we had no oyster-knives — 
and couldn't have used them if we had; so we looked at the 
oysters and ate the mutton. At least we ate as much of it as was 
done, and made up with capers, "if I had permitted him, I am 
satisfied that Traddles would have made a perfect savage of 
himself and eaten a plateful of raw meat to express enjoyment 
of the repast ; but I would hear of no such immolation on the 
altar of friendship ; and we had a course of bacon instead, there 
happening, by good fortune, to be cold bacon in the larder. 

Thomas Carlyle (1795=1881). —Thomas Carlyle, a man 
so versatile in talent that he may be classed among phil- 



MODERN TIMES. 215 

osophers, or historians, or biographers, or essayists, was 
born in Dumfrieshire, Scotland. After some prelim- 
inary instruction at Annan, he entered the University of 
Edinburgh, where he distinguished himself by his mathe- 
matical studies. His education was intended to fit him 
for the duties of a clergyman in the Scottish Kirk, but he 
resolved to forego that calling and devote himself to 
literature. 

His first publication was a translation of Legendre's 
Geometry with an original " Essay on Proportion." His 
translation of Goethe's " Wilhelm Meister " betrayed a 
direction of reading which materially influenced his future 
career. In 1834 he published " Sartor Resartus " (The 
Patcher Re-patched) , a work which at first aroused much 
ridicule and rebuke. The underlying idea of the book 
is that all creeds and institutions are but the garments of 
social life, and that they are now sadly threadbare. " The 
French Revolution, a History," his ablest work, appeared 
in 1837, and it produced a profound impression on the 
public mind. The " History of Frederick II." cost Car- 
lyle fifteen years of labor; it fully displays the author's 
strong prejudices in every line of thought. His other 
works are " Chartism," " Past and Present," " Hero Wor- 
ship," " Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell," " Life 
of Schiller " and " Critical and Miscellaneous Essays." 

Carlyle is a worshiper of power, whether mental, phys- 
ical or political ; and his chief heroes were Mohammed, 
Cromwell, Napoleon and Frederick the Great. Two ele- 
ments were necessary to constitute the character of his 
heroes, revolt against authority and success in rebellion. 
He was very eccentric both in thought and style, having 
been influenced in both these respects by his study of Ger- 
man literature. He had no sympathy for atheism or 



216 LESSONS IN LITERATURE.. 

fanaticism, but on the other hand he rejected all divine 
revelation, and consequently denied the supernatural char- 
acter of the Christian religion. 

FROM THE ESSAY ON BURNS. 

Contemplating the sad end of Burns — how he sank unaided 
by any real help, uncheered by any wise sympathy, — generous 
minds have sometimes figured to themselves, with a reproachful 
sorrow, that much might have been done for him; that, by 
counsel, true affection and friendly ministrations, he might have 
been saved to himself and the world. But it seems dubious 
whether the richest, wisest, most benevolent individual could 
have lent Burns any effectual help. 

Counsel, — which seldom profits any one, — he did not need. 
In his understanding, he knew the right from the wrong, as well, 
perhaps, as any man ever did ; but the persuasion which would 
have availed him, lies not so much in the head as in the heart, 
where no argument or expostulation could have assisted much 
to implant it. 

As to money, we do not believe that this was his essential 
want; or well see that any private man could have bestowed 
on him an independent fortune, with much prospect of decisive 
advantage. It is a mortifying trutlf, that two men, in any rank 
of society, can hardly be found virtuous enough to give money, 
and to take it as a necessary gift, without an injury to the moral 
entireness of one or both. But so stands the fact : Friendship, 
in the old heroic sense of the term, no longer exists ; it is in 
reality no longer expected, or recognized as a virtue among men. 
A close observer of manners has pronounced " patronage," — that 
is, pecuniary to economic furtherance, — to be " twice cursed ; " 
cursing him that gives, and him that takes ! And thus in regard 
to outward matters, it has become the rule, as, in regard to 
inward, it always was and must be the rule, that no one shall 
look for effectual help to another; but that each shall rest con- 
tented with what help he can afford himself. 

We have already stated our doubts whether direct pecuniary 
help, had it been offered, would have been accepted, or could 
have proved very effectual. We shall readily admit, however, 




THOMAS CARLYLE. 



MODERN TIMES. 219 

that much was to be done for Burns ; that many a poisoned 
arrow might have been warded from his bosom ; many an en- 
tanglement in his path cut asunder by the hand of the powerful ; 
light and heat shed on him from high places, would have made 
his humble atmosphere more genial ; and the softest heart then 
breathing might have lived and died with fewer pangs. Still we 
do not think that the blame of Burns's failure lies chiefly with 
the world. The world, it seems to us, treated him with more, 
rather than with less kindness than it usually shows to such men. 
It has ever, we fear, shown but small favor to its teachers : 
hunger and nakedness, perils and reviling, the prison, the poison- 
chalice, the Cross, have, in most times and countries, been the 
market-price it has offered for wisdom — the welcome with which 
it has treated those who have come to enlighten and purify it. 
We reckon that every poet of Burns's order is, or should be, a 
prophet and teacher to his age ; that he has no right to expect 
kindness, but rather is bound to do it ; that Burns, in particular, 
experienced fully the usual proportion of goodness ; and that the 
blame of his failure, as we have said, lies not chiefly with the 
world. 

Where then does it lie? We are forced to answer, with 
himself: it is his inward, not his outward misfortunes, that 
bring him to the dust. Seldom, indeed, is it otherwise; seldom 
is a life morally wrecked, but the grand cause lies in some 
internal mal-arrangement, — some want, less of good fortune than 
of good guidance. Nature fashions no creature without implant- 
ing in it the strength needful for its action and duration ; least 
of all does she neglect her masterpiece and darling — the poetic 
soul ! Neither can we believe that it is in the power of any 
external circumstances utterly to ruin the mind of a man ; nay, 
— if proper wisdom be given him, — even so much as to affect its 
essential health and beauty. The sternest sum-total of all worldly 
misfortunes is Death ; nothing more can lie in the cup of human 
woe : yet many men, in all ages, have triumphed over death, and 
led it captive; converting its physical victory into a moral victory 
for themselves — into a seal and immortal consecration for all 
that their past life had achieved. What has been done may be 
done again ; nay, it is but the degree, not the kind, of such hero- 
ism, that differs in different seasons : for, without some portion 
of this spirit, not of boisterous daring, but of silent fearlessness 



220 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

— of self-denial in all its. forms, no great man, in any scene or 
time, has ever attained to be good. 

Thomas de Qirincey (1786-1859). — Thomas de Quincy, the 
son of a wealthy merchant, was born in Manchester, 
England. After the death of his father he was sent to 
a grammar school at Bath, but ran away in the following 
year, and after a pedestrian tour in Wales, lived some time 
in extreme poverty in London. He subsequently studied 
at Oxford without taking a degree. In 1808 he became 
acquainted with Coleridge and Wordsworth, and was 
induced to settle at Grassmere. During his stay at Oxford 
he contracted the habit of opium-eating. He finally suc- 
ceeded in conquering it, but only after it had perma- 
nently injured his extraordinary mental powers. 

His best works are his " Confessions of an Opium 
Eater," and his " Essays." His critical faculty is delicate 
and subtle, but not always reliable. The exquisite finish 
of his style and the scholastic vigor of his ^ogic form a 
combination which is one of the marvels of English litera- 
ture. 

The following passage from De Quincey has relation 
to the subject of prose rhythm, and is further interesting 
as being in itself a good illustration of rhythmic prose : 

Where, out of Sir Thomas Browne, shall we hope to find 
music so Miltonic, an intonation of such solemn chords as are 
struck in the following opening bar of a passage in the " Urn- 
Burial " : " Now since these bones have rested quietly in the grave, 
under the drums and tramplings of three conquests," etc. What 
a melodious ascent as of a prelude to some impassioned requiem 
breathing from the pomps of the earth and the sanctities of the 
grave ! What a fluctus decumanus of rhetoric ! Time expounded 
not by generations or centuries, but by vast periods of conquests 
and dynasties ; by cycles of Pharaohs and Ptolemies, Antiochi and 
Arxacides ! And these vast successions of time, distinguished and 



MODERN TIMES. 221 

figured by the uproars which revolve at their inaugurations — by 
the drums and tramplings rolling overhead, upon the chambers of 
forgotten dead — the trepidations of time and mortality vexing, 
at secular intervals, the everlasting Sabbaths of the grave ! 

Frederick William Faber (1814-1863).— Frederick William 
Faber, the son of an Anglican clergyman,- was born 
in Yorkshire, England. He was graduated at Oxford 
in 1836 and soon after became rector of Elton. In 
1835 he won the Newdigate prize for poetry, his subject 
being the " Knights of St. John." A few years later he 
published two volumes of poetry called from the open- 
ing poems in each, " The Cherwell Water Lily " and " The 
Styrian Lake." Wordsworth declared that had not Fred- 
erick Faber devoted himself so completely to the duties 
of his ministry, he would have been the poet of the age. 
But Faber's ambition was not for earthly fame. After 
years of prayer and study he followed the example of his 
guide, Dr. Newman, and made his submission to the 
Catholic Church, whose glory it is that she could equally 
satisfy the mighty intellect of the one and the sensitive 
heart of the other. Having been raised to the priesthood, 
Father Faber joined the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, lately 
introduced into England by Dr. Newman. 

His principal works are " All for Jesus," " Growth in 
Holiness," " The Creator and the Creature," " The Foot 
of the Cross," and " Spiritual Conferences." In these the 
mysteries, doctrines and devotional practices of Chris- 
tianity are presented in a manner imaginative, eloquent 
and full of unction. 

The last two years of Father Faber's life were years of 
continual disease and suffering, but he never lost that 
serenity of soul and that fascination of manners which 
in him were characteristic traits. 



222 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 



THE ONE WANT. 

One thing is wanting, one bright thing on earth, 

To fill the cup of life unto the brim, 
The measure and completion of my mirth, 

For lack of which days tarnish and grow dim. 

earth ! O world ! O life ! ye should have bred 
For one like me more sorrow, pain and fears ; 

Whereas from you, as from your flowery bed, 

Hath breath, like incense, breathed for all my years. 

Why should I blame? Ye do your best; ye give 
What ye can give, and still my heart goes free 

Gay thing ! it makes the world in which I live, 
And it is bright, too bright a world for me. 

One thing is wanting to me, one bright thing, 
Which being absent, I am poor indeed ; — 

It is my mother's life to be a spring 

Of a more virtuous gladness which I need. 

1 have been happy and am happy now, 
Yet do I crave the most when happiest, 

For the cold sense of my one want doth grow 
In the proportion wherein I am blest. 

At the dread altar, when I might lose sight 

Of my unworthiness amid the stir 
Of high and swelling thoughts, it is a blight 

To pride, that I can be not priest to her. 

In the rare woods when I've given birth 

To songs her memory would have loved to treasure, 

That she is absent mars the rising mirth, 
Twining my heart to life's sober measure. 

When I have walked half giddy on the ledge 

To which men's praise, like tempters, souls will bear 

The want, the single want, hath been the wedge, 
Cleaving my soul for Heaven to enter there. 



MODERN TIMES. 993 

Charles Lamb (1775-1834). — Charles Lamb, though not 
a popular writer, will always remain a favorite with 
readers of culture. The recurring insanity of his sister, 
whom he loved with the utmost tenderness, imparted a 
melancholy to his writings even where they seem to 
abound in good humor. The brother and sister shared 
in the authorship and publication of some w r orks for 
children — " Tales from Shakespeare," " Mrs. Leicester's 
School," " The Adventures of Ulysses " and " Poetry for 
Children." 

Lamb contributed a series of essays to the London 
Magazine, and to these desultory compositions he owes 
his fame. In these " Essays of Elia," we find delicacy of 
feeling, quaint humor and a subtle and peculiar charm 
of style. In his poems, as, for instance, the " Old Familiar 
Faces," and his few but beautiful sonnets, we find a 
marked tenderness of fancy, the simplicity of the child 
and the learning of the scholar. Excellent as are his 
writings they are but a pale reflex of his powers of con- 
versation. 

OLD FAMILIAR FACES. 

I have had playmates, I have had companions, 

In my days of childhood, in my joyful school-days; 

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. 

I have been laughing, I have been carousing, 
Drinking late, sitting late, with my bosom cronies ; 
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. 

I loved a love once, fairest among women; 

Closed are her doors on me ; I must not see her — 

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. 



224 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

I have a friend, a kinder friend has no man; 
Like an ingrate, I left my friend abruptly; 
Left him, to muse on the old familiar faces. 

Ghost-like I paced round the haunts of my childhood ; 
Earth seemed a desert I was bound to traverse, 
Seeking to find the old familiar faces. 

Friend of my bosom, thou more than a brother, 
Why wert not thou born in my father's dwelling? 
So might we talk of the old familiar faces — 

How some they have died, and some they have left me, 
And some are taken from me ; all are departed ; 
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. 

George Eliot (1820-1830).—" George Eliot" (Mary Ann 
Evans, Mrs. Cross), the greatest female novelist that 
England has produced, was born at Asbury Farm, War- 
wickshire, England. Her childhood seems to have been 
rather serene than otherwise, and as she grew into woman- 
hood, unusual love and veneration marked her relations 
to her widowed father, the prototype of Adam Bede. She 
was carefully educated, receiving a special training in 
Latin, French and English composition. In her early 
years she was a Christian, but unfortunately she imbibed 
the ideas of agnosticism and her works reflect the doc- 
trines with which her mind was imbued. A vein of sad- 
ness underlies all her writings, not on account of any per- 
sonal sorrow, but from her perception of the ills that 
affect mankind. A code of morals from which God is 
excluded and, with Him, the hope of another life, is 
indeed a feeble help to the weakness of mankind. 

Her most important works are " Scenes of Clerical 
Life," " The Mill on the Floss," " Silas Marner," " Adam 
Bede," " Romola " " Middlemarch " and " Daniel Deron- 




CHARLES LAMB 



MODERN TIMES. 227 

da." In dramatic force, in variety of types, in life-like 
blending of pathos and humor, these novels surpass any- 
thing else in English fiction. In them, development of 
character, not intricacy of plot, is the motive. 

A sudden illness closed her life in the year 1880. 

FROM THE MILL ON THE FLOSS. 

There is something sustaining in the very agitation that accom- 
panies the first shocks of trouble, just as an acute pain is often a 
stimulus, and produces an excitement which is transient strength. 
It is in the slow, changed life that follows — in the time when 
sorrow has become stale, and has no longer an emotive intensity 
that counteracts its pain — in the time when day follows day in 
unexpectant sameness, and trial is a dreary routine ; — it is then 
that despair threatens : it is then that the peremptory hunger of 
the soul is felt, and eye and ear are strained after some unlearned 
secret of our existence, which shall give to endurance the nature 
of satisfaction. 

We could never have loved the earth so well if we had had 
no childhood in it, — if it were not the earth where the same 
flowers come up again every spring that we used to gather with 
our tiny fingers as we sat lisping to ourselves on the grass — the 
same hips and haws on the autumn hedgerows — the same red- 
breasts that we used to call " God's birds," because they did no 
harm to the precious crops. What novelty is worth that sweet 
monotony where everything is known, and loved because it is 
known ? 

The wood I walk in on this mild May-day, with the young 
yellow-brown foliage of the oaks between me and the blue sky, 
the white star-flowers and the blue-eyed speedwell and the ground 
ivy at my feet — what grove of tropic palms, what strange ferns 
or splendid broad-petaled blossoms, could ever thrill such deep 
and delicate fibers within me as this home-scene? These familiar 
flowers, these well-remembered bird-notes, this sky with its fitful 
brightness, these furrowed and grassy fields, each with a sort of 
personality given to it by the capricious hedge-rows — such 
things as these are the mother-tongue of our imagination, the 



228 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

language that is laden with all the subtle inextricable associations 
the fleeting hours of our childhood left behind them. Our delight 
in the sunshine on the deep-bladed grass to-day, might be no more 
than the faint perception of wearied souls, if it were not for the 
sunshine and the grass in the far-off years which still live in us, 
and transform our perception into love. 

Kathleen O'Meara (1839=1888) was a gifted Irish lady, 
who for many years made her home in Paris, and 
who was highly esteemed by some of the most dis- 
tinguished men and women in France and England. 
About her writings there is a fascination, and whether 
her fertile pen evoked shadowy beings of fiction, or 
limned the features of a saint, or recorded the vary- 
ing shades of Parisian society — it is all told with an 
indescribable charm. Throughout her novels, " Ma- 
bel Stanhope," " Iza's Story," " Diane Coryval," " The 
Old House in Picardy " and " Narka," a wholesome 
spirit prevails. She wrote also a " Life of Thomas 
Grant," " Frederic Ozanam, His Life and Works," 
and charming sketches of Pere Lacordaire, Sister Rosalie 
and Madame Swetchine. 

Alice Thompson Meynell is the sister of Lady Elizabeth 
Butler, who painted the famous " Roll Call." Maurice 
Egan styles Mrs. Meynell " the sweetest and most ar- 
tistic, if not the greatest, of all woman poets." Coventry 
Patmore says that he regarded Mrs. Meynell " as the 
first woman of genius who combined the delicacy of a 
feminine with the intellectual force of a masculine 
mind." This commendation will lend interest to the 
two little volumes of essays which she has published 
under the titles of " The Rhythm of Life," and "The 
Colour of Life." 

Her verse is real poetry, both in thought and ex- 



MODERN TIMES. 229 

pression, the best individual poems being " Letter 
from the Girl to Her Old Age," " To a Daisy " and 
■' San Lorenzo's Mother." The poem, " San Lorenzo's 
Mother," is a story of a mother whose son has become 
a Franciscan friar. One day a brother of the order 
visits her for alms. Years have passed since she saw 
her son ; she thinks this visitor is he, but she is not 
sure. She says: 

I had not seen my son's dear face 
(He chose the cloister by God's grace) 

Since it had come to full flower-time. 

I hardly guessed at its perfect prime, 
That folded flower of his dear face. 

Mine eyes were veiled by mists of tears 
When on a day in many years 

One of his order came. I thrilled. 

Facing, I thought, that face fulfilled, 
I doubted for my mist of tears. 

His blessing be with me forever! 

My hope and doubt were hard to sever, 
That altered face, those holy weeds, 
I filled his wallet, and kissed his beads, 

And lost his echoing feet forever. 

If to my son my alms were given 
I know not, and I wait for Heaven. 

He did not plead for child of mine, 

But for another Child Divine, 
And unto Him it was surely given. 

There is One alone who cannot change; 
Dreams are we, shadows, visions strange; 

And all I give is given to One, 

I might mistake my dearest son, 
But never the Son who cannot change. 



230 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Adelaide Proctor is more direct than Airs. Meynell, 
The difference between Miss Proctor's verse and that of 
Mrs. Meynell is that which exists between Longfellow 
and the more misty verses of younger poets. From 
the purely literary standpoint, Miss Proctor would be 
called less of a poet than Mrs. Meynell, as Longfellow 
would be in comparison with Shelley. But, to find the 
true poet, one must not consider his verse entirely from 
the literary point of view. 

Richard Lalor Sheil (1793-1851). — Richard Lalor Sheil won 
celebrity by his political and patriotic speeches. His 
graphic " Sketches of the Irish Bar," and his dramas, 
"Adelaide," " The Apostate " and " Evadne," will give 
him a lasting place in literature. As an example of his 
style we quote an extract from his speech on the death of 
Frederick Augustus, the Duke of York. 

The pomp of death will for a few nights fill the gilded 
apartment in which his body will lie in state. He will be laid 
in a winding-sheet fringed with silver and with gold ; he will 
be inclosed in spicy wood ; and his illustrious descent and his 
withered hopes will be inscribed upon his glittering coffin. The 
bell of St. Paul's will toll, and London, rich, luxurious, Baby- 
Ionic London, will start at the recollection that even kings 
must die. The day of his solemn obsequies will arrive, the 
gorgeous procession will go forth in its funereal glory, the 
ancient chapel of Windsor Castle will be thrown open and 
its aisles will be thronged with the array of kindred royalty, 
the emblazoned windows will be illuminated, the notes of 
holy melody will arise, the beautiful service of the dead will 
be repeated by the heads of the Church of which he will be 
the cold and senseless champion, the vaults of the dead will 
be unclosed, the nobles and the ladies and the high priests 
of the land will look down into those deep depositories of 
the ambition and the vanities of the world. They will behold 
the heir to a great empire taking possession, not of the palace 



MODERN TIMES. 231 

which was raised at such an enormous and unavailing cost, 
but of that " house which lasts till doomsday." The torches 
will fade in the open daylight, the multitude of the great will 
gradually disperse, the business and the pursuits and the 
frivolities of life will be resumed, and the heir to the three 
kingdoms will in a week be forgotten ! We, too, shall forget ; 
but let us before we forget, forgive him ! 

Dr. John Lingard (1771-1851) was born in Winchester, 
England, of Catholic parentage. He studied at Douay 
until the terrors of the French Revolution forced 
him to return to his native country. He completed his 
course of theology in England, and was ordained priest 
in April, 1795. His reputation as a historian rests upon 
his great work, the " History of England from the Inva- 
sion of the Romans to the Accession of William and 
Mary." The Edinburgh Review says of Dr. Lingard : 
" His style is nervous and concise and never enfeebled by 
useless epithets or encumbered with redundant, unmean- 
ing phrases. His narrative has a freshness of character, a 
stamp of originality not to be found in any general history 
of England in common use." Cardinal Wiseman says : 
" When Hume shall have fairly taken his place among the 
classical writers of our tongue, and Macaulay shall have 
been transferred to the shelves of romancers and poets, 
and each shall have thus received his due meed of praise, 
then Lingard will be still more conspicuous as the only 
impartial historian of our country." 

Henry Hallam (1778-1859) is the author of the "His- 
tory of the Middle Ages," " Constitutional History of 
England " and " Introduction to the Literature of Eng- 
land in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Cen- 
turies," any one of which is sufficient to confer literary 
immortality upon him. These works display a vigorous 



232 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

spirit of inquiry and criticism, but they are frequently dis- 
figured by an involuntary prejudice against Catholicity. 

George Grote (1794-1871) wrote the " History of Greece," 
" Plato and the Other Companions of Socrates." His 
" History of Greece " is the best ever published. 

Thomas William M. Marshall (1815-1877), at one time an An- 
glican clergyman, deserves an eminent place among the 
wittiest English writers. In the preparation of his 
first work, " Notes on Episcopacy," his researches and 
reflections having convinced him of the " utter human- 
ism and senseless contradictions of the Anglican re- 
ligion," he left it in 1845, an d was received into the church 
by Cardinal Wiseman. " To give up at thirty years of 
age, just married, with no private fortune, the profession 
of clergyman in the Church of England to become a 
Catholic layman was an act not only of remarkable hon- 
esty, but of superhuman courage." His principal works 
are " Christian Missions," " The Comedy of Convoca- 
tion," which was pronounced the best satire since the time 
of Swift, " Our Protestant Contemporaries," " Sketch of 
the Reformation " and " My Clerical Friends." 

Kenelm Digby (1800-1880), a convert to the Catholic 
Church, wrote " More's Catholici " (Ages of Faith), 
which Hallam, the historian, declared to be delightful 
reading ; " The Broad Stone of Honor," a treatise on 
Christian chivalry, and " Evenings on the Thames." 

Walter Savage Landor (1776-1864) ranks among the best 
essayists of his time. His prose, though strictly prosaic 
in form, was more imaginative than were the verses 
of other men. In his " Imaginary Conversations," the 
work upon which his fame rests, he portrays in a marvel- 
ously vivid manner the thoughts and views of famous 
personages who lived in Rome and Greece centuries ago. 



MODERN TIMES. 233 

Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) was a genial poet and critic, 
author of " Rimini," "A Legend of Florence," " The Pal- 
frey " and collections of " Essays." 

Sir Edward George Bulwer Lytton (1805-1873), when but 
twenty years of age, won the Cambridge Chancellor's 
prize by his poem on " Sculpture," but his eminence as 
a man of letters was attained in prose. His principal nov- 
els are " Eugene Aram," " The Last Days of Pompeii," 
" Rienzi," " Harold " and " The Last of the Barons." 

Jane Austen (1775=1817) was a successful novelist whose 
skill in clothing commonplace things with a mantle of 
interest has never been surpassed. She wrote " Pride 
and Prejudice," " Sense and Sensibility," " Mansfield 
Park," " Northanger Abbey," " Emma " and "Persua- 
sion." 

Samuel Lover (1797-1868) wrote songs and novels descrip- 
tive of Irish life ; their prevailing characteristic is a 
wholesome humor. His best novels are " Handy Andy," 
" Rory O'More " and " Treasure Trove." 

Charles Lever (1806-1870) was a popular novelist who won 
fame by his delineations of Irish life and character. He 
wrote " Harry Lorrequer," " Charles O'Malley," " Tom 
Burke " and other novels. 

Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) was the literary forerunner 
of George Eliot. She distinguished herself as a novel- 
ist by her skill in portraying tragic characters, power- 
fully delineating the realities which society ignored. All 
her works were written in the stress of mental suffering, 
and her materials were taken from her limited experience. 
Her best works are " Jane Eyre," " Shirley " and " Vil- 
lette." 



234 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) was a prolific novelist. He 
wrote " Barchester Towers," " Orley Farm," " La Ven- 
dee " and many others. 

Lady Georgians Fullerton (1814=1885) wrote many novels 
which are all productive of good. " Lady Bird " was 
written after her conversion to Catholicity. It describes 
her religious struggles. Her other works are " Ellen 
Middleton," " Grantley Manor," " Constance Sherwood," 
"A Stormy Life " and " Mrs. Gerald's Niece." 

Dinah Maria Muloch (Mrs. Craik) (1826-1877) wrote many 
excellent novels, among which are " John Halifax, Gen- 
tleman," "A Brave Lady," " Woman's Kingdom," " The 
Ogilvies " and " King Arthur." 

Charles Kingsley (1819-1875), a clergyman of the Church 
of England, wrote many novels ; among them are 
"Hypatia," "Westward Ho!" "Two Years Ago" and 
" Alton Locke." 

Henry Hart Milman (1791-1868), dean of St. Paul's, London, 
wrote " The History of the Jews," " The History of 
Christianity," "The Martyr of Antioch," "The Fall 
of Jerusalem," " Belshazzar " and " Fazio, a Tragedy." 

Thomas D'Arcy McGee (1826-1868) was the author of "The 
History of Ireland," which possesses the merits of impar- 
tiality and accuracy. 

Sidney Smith (1771-1845), a clergyman of the Church of 
England, and one of the founders of the Edinburgh Re- 
view, contributed to it many brilliant essays on politics, 
literature and philosophy. His " Letters of Peter Plym- 
ley " helped to restore the political and social rights of his 
Catholic fellow-subjects. It is to be regretted that the 
author in these letters unfairly assails the religious doc- 
trines of Catholics. 



AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

CHAPTER VII. 
Colonial and Revolutionary Periods (1640-1830). 

The colonial period of our history was most unfavorable 
to the production of literature. The colonists lived in 
small villages, scattered along a thousand miles of sea- 
coast, and were engaged in a constant struggle for ex- 
istence. They had no special impulse to literary work, 
nor was there any apparent need of a native literature, 
since books in their own language were supplied in abun- 
dance. The intellectual manifestations of this period 
were nearly all of a theological character, for with the 
Puritans, religion was the ruling passion, and all things 
else they regarded as useless . Catholics at this time found 
no more toleration in the New World than they had en- 
joyed at home. For two brief periods they rose to power, 
once in Maryland under Lord Baltimore, and once in 
New York during the reign of James II., the last Catholic 
King of England. In both of these periods the adherents 
of all creeds were permitted to worship God according to 
the dictates of their conscience. 

The revolutionary period was equally unfavorable to 
authorship. During the years of active warfare few men 
could be spared for the pursuit of literature, and when 
the war was over, the land was desolate and the people 
had to toil for their daily bread. Literature does not 
thrive without leisure and quiet, and these essentials were 

235 



236 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

sadly needed throughout the revolutionary period. Amer- 
ican literature may be said to have begun in 1640, the 
year in which the first book was printed in this country. 
This was the " Bay Psalm Book," which came from the 
printing press of Harvard College, Cambridge, Massa- 
chusetts. The earliest specimens of our literature are 
marked by rudeness of diction and servile imitation of 
English models. 

George Sandys (1577-1643) held the post of treasurer 
in the colony of Virginia. While residing upon the 
banks of the James River, he made a pleasing translation 
of Ovid's " Metamorphoses," which was printed in Lon- 
don in 1626. Like Sir John Mandeville, the first English 
prose writer, Sandys was a distinguished traveler, and his 
works describing the countries of the Mediterranean and 
the Holy Land enjoyed great popularity. 

Roger Williams (1606-1683) was a distinguished champion 
of civil and religious liberty in this country. He 
founded the city of Providence as a haven of religious 
liberty, and was not to be diverted either by threats or 
by flattery from what he believed to be his duty. The 
most famous of his writings bears the title " The Bloody 
Tenet of Persecution for Cause of Conscience." 

James Otis (1724-1783) was a scholarly lawyer and an 
uncompromising foe to arbitrary British rule in Amer- 
ica. In 1761 he delivered his famous speech against the 
" writs of assistance." Of this speech President Adams 
said : " Otis's eloquence was a flame of fire. He swept 
all before him. American independence was then and 
there born." His principal political writings are " The 
Rights of the British Colonists Asserted and Proved " 
and " A Vindication of the British Colonists." The last 



COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY PERIODS. 237 

years of his life were spent at Andover, where in 1783 he 
was struck by lightning and died instantly. 

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), a scientist, statesman and 
philosopher, rose from the humblest rank in life to the 
most honorable position the nation could offer. He 
was taken from school at ten years of age and set at 
work helping his father, a tallow-chandler. He next 
became a printer, then a publisher. In 1732 appeared 
his celebrated work, " Poor Richard's Almanac/' His 
theory of the identity of lightning and electricity he estab- 
lished by his famous kite experiment in 1752. He was 
prominent in all movements for the public welfare, and 
it was chiefly through his instrumentality that the obnox- 
ious " Stamp Act " was repealed. He was one of those 
who signed the " Declaration of Independence," he served 
as Minister Plenipotentiary to France and signed the 
definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain. His prin- 
cipal works are his " Autobiography," his " Essays " and 
his " Correspondence." 

Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791) was celebrated as a judge, a 
statesman and a prose-writer, but he is best remembered 
by his Revolutionary ballad, " The Battle of the Kegs." 

Joseph Hopkinson (1770-1842), the son of Francis Hopkin- 
son, distinguished himself at the bar and was appointed 
Judge of the United States District Court, an office which 
he held till his death. In 1798, when party spirit ran high 
on the side of France or England, then engaged in war, 
he wrote the popular national song, " Hail Columbia." 

Philip Freneau (1652-1732) was the first American poet 
whose verses were much read in England. As editor 
of the National Gazette, he made his name familiar and 
popular by his political burlesque and invective. His 
poems are noted for their freshness and originality. One 
of the most graceful among them is : 



238 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 



THE WILD HONEYSUCKLE. 

Fair flower, that dost so comely grow, 

Hid in this silent dull retreat, 
Untouched thy honeyed blossoms blow, 

Unseen thy little branches greet: 

No roving foot shall crush thee here, 

No busy hand provoke a tear. 

By Nature's self in white arrayed, 

She bade thee shun the vulgar eye, 
And planted here the guardian shade, 

And sent soft waters running by: 

Thus quietly thy summer goes, 

Thy days declining to repose. 

Smit with these charms that must decay, 

I grieve to see your future doom. 
They died, — nor were those flowers more gay, 

The flowers that did in Eden bloom; 

Unpitying frosts and Autumn's power 

Shall leave no vestige of this flower. 

From morning suns and evening dews 

At first thy little being came, 
If nothing once, you* nothing lose, 

For when you die you are the same; 

The space between is but an hour, 

The frail duration of a flower. 

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) is, of all our great men, the 
truest representative of republican ideas. As a literary 
man he was the peer of any of his contemporaries, but 
it is to be regretted that his works are frequently marred 
by attacks upon Christianity, and especially upon the 
authority of the Holy Scriptures. He wrote " Notes on 
the State of Virginia " and a " Parliamentary Manual," 
16 




BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY PERIODS. 241 

but no literary work could add to the fame won by him as 
author of the " Declaration of Independence." 

Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) was Washington's most 
confidential aide-de-camp. His published reports as Sec- 
retary of the Treasury have given him the reputation of 
being the best financier of the New World. His essays, 
published in a volume under the title of " The Fed- 
eralist," constitute one of the most profound and lucid 
treatises on politics that have ever been written. His 
life was terminated by a wound received in a duel with 
Vice-President Aaron Burr. 

James Madison (1751-1836), the fourth President of the 
United States, was celebrated for his papers in " The Fed- 
eralist." " To him and to Hamilton," says Judge Story, 
" I think we are mainly indebted for the Constitution of 
the United States." 

John Adams (1735-1826), the second President of the 
United States, wrote several important political works, 
among which are " A Dissertation on Canon and Feudal 
Law," " A Defense of the Constitution of the United 
States " and " Discourses on Davila ; a series of Papers 
on American History." Two volumes of " Letters," ad- 
dressed to his wife, have a permanent place in litera- 
ture. 

John Marshall (1755-1835) was for thirty-five years Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, an 
office with which his name is inseparably connected by 
reason of his learning, intelligence and integrity. Of the 
public and private worth of this illustrious man it is im- 
possible to speak too highly. His " Life of Washington," 
in five volumes, is a faithful and interesting narrative. 
16 



CHAPTER VIII. 

National Period (1830-1895). 

This period is called national, because at this time our 
literature begins to assume a national importance and 
to show signs of a distinct national life, challenging the 
attention of the world and showing the results of Amer- 
ican thought and culture. In the early years of the cen- 
ture Sydney Smith asked in the Edinburgh Review: 
" Who reads an American book?" The change which 
time has made in this condition of affairs is best shown 
by the remark of the London Athenaeum in 1880: "An 
American book has nearly always something fresh and 
striking about it to English readers." It is true that 
American writers can now compare favorably with the 
great ones of English literature, but it is to be regretted 
that much of American literature is disfigured by an anti- 
Catholic or materialistic spirit. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). 
" His chief qualities are a gentle soothing power to hearts 
in trouble or not hopeful, a real Catholic spirit with a hold 
on the unseen but real world, as real as the world that we 
see, a spirit that is the basis of true art, and a deep soul- 
moving pathos." — O'Connor. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born February 27, 
1807, at Portland, Maine. His mother was a descendant 
of the John Alden he celebrates in his " Courtship of 
Miles Standish ; " his father was the Hon. Stephen Long- 
fellow. At the age of fourteen years he entered Bowdoin 
242 



NATIONAL PERIOD. 243 

College, and with Hawthorne and others was graduated 
in the celebrated class of 1825. The success of his col- 
lege career may be inferred from the fact that on grad- 
uating he was invited to the chair of modern languages 
and literature in his alma mater. In order the better to 
prepare for this appointment he spent some years in trav- 
eling through France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland 
and England, and the effects of this visit were manifold. 
It broadened his views, strengthened his self-confidence, 
and supplied him with poetical themes. Imbibing the 
spirit of the countries in which he dwelt, he blended the 
tenderness of the Germans, the passion of the Spanish 
and the vivacity of the French with the coldness and de- 
liberation of the English ; but over all predominated the 
rich and tender feeling, the sympathy and charity of the 
sweet poet's soul. 

On his return from a second visit to Europe he bought 
the old Craigie House in Cambridge, Mass., and in this 
quaint, old wooden house, which had been occupied by 
Washington when he took command of the army in 1776, 
the poet dwelt for nearly a quarter of a century, and here 
he died. His highest ambition was to be a worthy man, 
and, through sympathy and love, to help others to live, 
and life to him meant more than mere existence. His 
beautiful character was mirrored in all he wrote, and the 
attentive reader knew him well. In the whole range of 
his writings there is nothing that, dying, he could wish 
to recall ; few authors have left a more honorable record. 

Critics differ in their estimate of his rank as a poet. 
The exalted treasure of celestial thought, the dramatic 
power of intense passion, the mystic subtlety of refined 
ideals, he did not claim ; nor did he deem himself the 
peer of the " grand old masters." He did not aim at 



244 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

enlightening the age in which he lived, and if we look 
into his poetry for profound psychological analysis, or 
new insights into nature, we shall be disappointed. 

The reputation of Longfellow rests mainly on the 
exquisite poem " Evangeline," and of his longer poems 
this is unquestionably the masterpiece. It is an imitation 
of Goethe's " Herman and Dorothea." The hexameter 
so long continued occasions a disagreeable cadence, but 
no other measure could have told the lovely story with 
such effect. The charm of the poem is without doubt the 
character of Evangeline, teaching, as it does, that patience 
and devotedness may, when exercised with religious 
purity of heart, rise to the scale of heroic virtues. One 
incident in the poem fixes itself upon the memory with 
startling reality, for few of us, whatever may be the object 
of our pursuit, have not felt that at some time we were 
close to that object and yet missed it. We allude to that 
passage where, after long travel, the weary wanderers 
moor their boat by a woody island in the Mississippi, and, 
resting, slumber. At last Gabriel is approaching — 

Nearer, and ever nearer, among the numberless islands, 
Darted a light, swift boat, that sped away o'er the water, 
Urged on its course by the sinewy arms of hunters and trap- 
pers. 
Northward its prow was turned, to the land of the bison and 

beaver. 
At the helm sat a youth, with countenance thoughtful and 

careworn. 
Dark and neglected locks overshadowed his brow, and a sad- 
ness 
Somewhat beyond his years on his face was legibly written. 
Gabriel was it, who, weary with waiting, unhappy and restless, 
Sought in the Western wilds oblivion of self and of sorrow. 




H. W. LONGFELLOW. 



NATIONAL PERIOD. 



247 



But they do not meet. He passes the slumberer with- 
out seeing her, and they drift apart again. 

So, when the fruitless search, the disappointed endeavor, 
Ended, to recommence no more upon earth, uncomplaining, 
Thither, as leaves to the light, were turned her thoughts and 

her footsteps. 
As from a mountain's top the rainy mists of the morning 
Roll away, and afar we behold the landscape below us, 
Sun-illumined, with shining rivers and cities and hamlets, 
So fell the mists from her mind, and she saw the world far 

below her, 
Dark no longer, but all illumined with love; and the pathway 
Which she had climbed so far, lying smooth and fair in the 

distance. 
Gabriel was not forgotten. Within her heart was his image, 
Clothed in the beauty of love and youth, as last she beheld him, 
Only more beautiful made by his deathlike silence and absence. 
Into her thoughts of him time entered not, for it was not. 
Over him years had no power; he was not changed, but trans- 
figured ; 
He had become to her heart as one who is dead, and not absent ; 
Patience and abnegation of self, and devotion to others, 
This was the lesson a life of trial and sorrow had taught her. 
So was her love diffused, but, like to some odorous spices, 
Suffered no waste nor loss, though filling the air with aroma. 
Other hope had she none, nor wish in life, but to follow 
Meekly, with reverent steps, the sacred feet of her Savior. 



Another of the author's longer poems is the " Golden 
Legend," a sketch of Europe during the Middle Ages. 
It abounds in scenes illustrative of the manners and relig- 
ion of that time ; against one scene we must protest 
strongly ; it accords ill with the following lines, referring 
to the old illuminator of the Scriptorium and the Abbot 
Ernestus : 



248 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Friar Pacificus. It is growing dark! Yet one line more, 
And then my work for to-day is o'er. 
I come again to the name of the Lord! 
Ere I that awful name record, 
That is spoken so lightly among men, 
Let me pause awhile, and wash my pen; 
Pure from blemish and blot must it be 
When it writes the word of mystery! 
Thus have I labored on and on, 
Nearly through the Gospel of John. 
Can it be that from the lips 
Of this same gentle Evangelist, 
That Christ himself perhaps has kissed, 
Came the dreadful Apocalypse ! 

The Abbot Ernestus speaks thus : 

Time has laid his hand 
Upon my heart, gently, not smiting it, 
But as a harper lays his open palm 
Upon his harp, to deaden its vibrations. 
Ashes are on my head, and on my lips 
Sackcloth, and in my breast a heaviness 
And weariness of life, that makes me ready 
To say to the dead Abbots under us, 
" Make room for me ! " Only I see the dusk 
Of evening twilight coming, and have not 
I Completed half my task; and so at times 

The thought of my shortcomings in this life 
Falls like a shadow on the life to come. 

His chosen province was the level of ordinary life and 
he strikes the chords of human sympathy with delicate 
tenderness. His subjects are for the most part those that 
influence by their pathos, and for heroic deeds preserved 
in legend or history, records of devotion and self-sacrifice 
and quaint old tales, he had a special fondness. 

We name his chief writings in the order in which they 
appeared before the public : " Coplas de Manrique," 



NATIONAL PERIOD. 249 

translated from the Spanish, " Outre-Mer, a Pilgrimage 
Beyond the Sea,'" " Hyperion, a Romance," " Voices of 
the Night," " Ballads and Other Poems," " Poems on 
Slavery," " The Spanish Student, a Play," " The Belfry 
of Bruges and Other Poems," " Evangeline, a Tale of 
Acadie," " Kavanagh," " The Seaside and the Fireside," 
" The Golden Legend," " The Poets and Poetry of Eu- 
rope," " The Song of Hiawatha," " The Courtship of 
Miles Standish," " Tales of a Wayside Inn," " New Eng- 
land Tragedies," " The Divine Tragedy," translation of 
Dante's " Divina Commedia," " Sonnets," " Morituri 
Salutamus," " Ultima Thule " and " Hermes Trismegis- 
tus." England has honored his memory by giving his 
bust a place in Westminster Abbey. 

MAIDENHOOD. 

Maiden ! with the meek, brown eyes, 
In whose orbs a shadow lies, 
Like the dusk in evening skies ! 

Thou whose looks outshine the sun, 
Golden tresses wreathed in one, 
As the braided streamlets run! 

Standing, with reluctant feet, 
Where the brook and river meet, 
Womanhood and childhood fleet! 

Gazing, with a timid glance, 
On the brooklet's swift advance, 
On the river's broad expanse ! 

Deep and still, that gliding stream 
Beautiful to thee must seem, 
As the river of a dream. 



250 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Then why pause with indecision. 
When bright angels in thy vision 
Beckon thee to fields Elysian? 

Seest thou shadows sailing by, 
As the dove, with startled eye 
Sees the falcon's shadow fly? 

Hearest thou voices on the shore, 
That our ears perceive no more, 
Deafened by the cataract's roar? 

O, thou child of many prayers ! 

Life hath quicksands, Life hath snares ! 

Care and age come unawares ! 

Like the swell of some sweet tune, 
Morning rises into noon, 
May glides onward into June. 

Childhood is the bough, where slumbered, 
Birds and blossoms many-numbered; 
Age, that bough with snows encumbered. 

Gather, then, each flower that grows, 
When the young heart overflows, 
To embalm that tent of snows. 

Bear a lily in thy hand; 

Gates of brass cannot withstand 

One touch of that magic wand. 

Bear through sorrow, wrong and ruth ; 
In thy heart the dew of youth, 
On thy lips the smile of truth. 

O, that dew, like balm, shall steal 
Into wounds that cannot heal, 
E'en as sleep our eyes doth seal ; 



NATIONAL PERIOD. 251 

And that smile, like sunshine, dart 
Into many a sunless heart, 
For a smile of God thou art. 

William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878). 
" The verses of Bryant come as assuredly from the ' well of 
English undehled ' as the finer compositions of Wordsworth." — 
London Review. 

William Cullen Bryant was born at Cummington, 
Mass., in 1794. He was a precocious child, who wrote 
verses when he was but ni^te years of age, and in his 
fifteenth year published a volume of them in Boston. The 
genius of the young poet was wisely directed by his 
father, and he laid up a rich store of classical learning 
while at Williams College. He studied law and practiced 
for ten years with more than ordinary success. 

During his professional studies he did not neglect his 
poetical talent. When not yet nineteen years old he wrote 
" Thanatopsis," a short poem of eighty blank verses, but 
had he written nothing more, this would have embalmed 
his memory. Bryant abandoned the law in 1825 and 
edited successfully the New York Review, the United 
States Review and Literary Gazette. In 1826 he became 
connected with the Evening Post, a daily paper, and man- 
aged it until his death. His prose writings, which he sent 
to the Post in his visits to the Old World, are charac- 
terized by neatness, simplicity and purity of style. In one, 
series of communications to his paper he seemed to 

I delight in disparaging the Catholic Church. Apart from 
his hostility to our faith, he raises the thoughts of his 
readers to higher literary standards. 
In the finish and repose of his writings Brvant is almost 



252 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

substantial services to American prose by refusing to 
countenance some national offenses against rhetoric — 
notably those of slang and exaggeration. His clear and 
exact English is the more to be appreciated when we com- 
pare it with the work of other editors. 

TO A WATERFOWL. 

Whither, 'midst falling dew, 
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, 
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue 

Thy solitary way? 

Vainly the fowler's eye 
Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, 
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky, 

Thy figure floats along. 

Seek'st thou the plashy brink 
Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, 
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink 

On the chafed ocean side? 

There is a Power, whose care 
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast, 
The desert and illimitable air, 

Lone wandering, but not lost. 

All day thy wings have fanned, 
At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere; 
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land, 

Though the dark night is near. 

And soon that toil shall end; 
Soon shalt thou find a summer home and rest, 
And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend 

Soon o'er thy sheltered nest. 



-*v 




II..: W 



WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. 



NATIONAL PERIOD. 255 

Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven 
Hath swallowed up thy form ; yet on my heart 
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given, 

And shall not soon depart. 



He who, from zone to zone, 
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, 
In the long way that I must tread alone, 

Will lead my steps aright. 



SONG OF MARION'S MEN. 

Our band is few, but true and tried, 

Our leader frank and bold; 
The British soldier trembles 

When Marion's name is told. 
Our fortress is the good greenwood. 

Our tent the cypress-tree; 
We know* the forest round us, 

As seamen know the sea. 
We know its walls of thorny vines, 

Its glades of reedy grass, 
Its safe and silent islands 

Within the dark morass. 



Woe to the English soldiery, 

That little dread us near ! 
On them shall light at midnight 

A strange and sudden fear; 
When, waking to their tents on fire, 

They grasp their arms in vain, 
And they who stand to face us 

Are beat to earth again; 
And they who fly in terror deem 

A mighty host behind, 
And hear the tramp of thousands 

Upon the hollow wind. 



256 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Then sweet the hour that brings release 

From danger and from toil : 
We talk the battle over, 

And share the battle's spoil. 
The woodland rings with laugh and shout 

As if a hunt were up, 
And woodland flowers are gathered 

To crown the soldier's cup. 
With merry songs we mock the wind 

That in the pine-top grieves, 
And slumber long and sweetly 

On beds of oaken leaves. 

Well knows the fair and friendly moon 

The band that Marion leads — 
The glitter of their rifles, 

The scampering of their steeds. 
'Tis life to guide the fiery barb 

Across the moonlight plain; 
'Tis life to feel the night-wind 

That lifts his tossing mane. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894). 

" Holmes, the most cultivated wit, if not the chief humorist, 
America has ever produced." — Westminster Review. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Cambridge, Mass., 
in 1809. After his graduation at Harvard he studied law 
for one year, but afterward adopted medicine as a pro- 
fession and went to Europe to study in Paris. After an 
absence of three years he returned to America and took 
his degree at Cambridge. For more than one third of a 
century he rilled the position of Professor of Anatomy 
at Harvard, devoting his leisure to literature. 

" The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," his most popu- 
lar work, was written in 1857 for the opening numbers 
of the Atlantic Monthly. " The Professor at the Break- 



NATIONAL PERIOD. 257 

fast Table " was followed by " The Poet," and still the 
interest in the series was undiminished. The wit, satire 
and sentiment of these papers gained for them immediate 
popularity. " Elsie Vernier " and " The Guardian Angel " 
are characteristic novels. His lyrics, such as " Union and 
Liberty," " Old Ironsides " and " Welcome to the Na- 
tions," are among the most spirited in the language, and 
his humorous poems, " The One-Hoss Shay," " My 
Aunt ,f and others, have an irresistible drollery combined 
with a tender and kindly feeling. His poems written for 
class reunions and other occasions are among his happiest 
efforts. 

In both his prose and his verse he exhibits a strange 
blending of the humorous, witty and sentimental, an 
accurate, though scarcely a profound, knowledge of 
character, a perfect command of words, and a most genial 
vigor of expression. Among his poems it is almost im- 
possible to make a choice — they are so much alike and 
so equally good. 

FROM THE AUTOCRAT AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE. 
I would have a woman as true as Death. At the first real 
lie which works from the heart outward, she should be ten- 
derly chloroformed into a better world, where she can have an 
angel for a governess, and feed on strange fruits which will 
make her all over again, even to her bones and marrow. 
Proud she may be in the sense of respecting herself; but 
pride, in the sense of contemning others less gifted than her- 
self, deserves the two lowest circles of a vulgar woman's 
Inferno, where the punishments are Small-pox and Bankruptcy. 
She who nips off the end of a brittle courtesy, as one breaks 
the tip of an icicle, to bestow upon those whom she ought 
cordially and kindly to recognize, proclaims the fact that she 
comes not merely of low blood, but of bad blood. Con- 
sciousness of unquestioned position makes people gracious in 
a proper measure to all; but, if a woman puts on airs with 
17 



258 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

her real equals, she has something about herself or her family 
she is ashamed of, or ought to be. Better too few words 
from the woman we love, than too many; while she is silent, 
Nature is working for her; while she talks, she is working 
for herself. Love is sparingly soluble in the words of men; 
therefore they speak much of it; but one syllable of woman's 
speech can dissolve more of it than a man's heart can hold. 

THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS. 

This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, 

Sails the unshadowed main — 

The venturous bark that flings 
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings 
In gulfs enchanted, where the siren sings, 

And coral reefs lie bare, 
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair. 

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl ; 

Wrecked is the ship of pearl ! 

And every chambered cell, 
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell, 
As the frail tenant shaped its growing shell, 

Before thee lies revealed — 
Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed. 

Year after year beheld the silent toil 

That spread his lustrous coil ; 

Still as the spiral grew, 
He left the past year's dwelling for the new, 
Stole with soft step its shining archway through, 

Built up its idle door, 
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more. 

Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee, 

Child of the wandering sea, 

Cast from her lap, forlorn ! 
From thy dead lips a clearer note is born 
Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn; 

While on my ear it rings, 
Through the deep caves of thought, I hear a voice that sings: 



NATIONAL PERIOD. 259 

" Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, 

As the swift seasons roll ! 

Leave thy low-vaulted past ! 
Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 

Till thou at length art free, 
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea ! " 

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). Edgar Allan Poe was born 
in Boston, Mass., in 1809. After the death of his parents 
he was adopted by a wealthy merchant of Richmond, Va., 
who gave him excellent opportunities of culture. He 
attended the University of Virginia, and afterward en- 
tered the Academy at West Point, where, incapable of 
enduring military restraints, he deliberately effected his 
expulsion. He led a wild and dissipated life, alienating 
his benefactor and bringing wretchedness upon himself. 
One of the sad defects of his nature was susceptibility to 
the influence of liquor ; this, with his passion for gambling, 
his morbid sensitiveness and his melancholy, led him to 
waste his genius and throw away his life. 

His literary record is one of suffering and discourage- 
ment, yet no other American writer has won so enduring 
a fame. His writings are full of mysticism and display 
an intricate machinery of words with a surfeit of sweet 
sounds. Of his poems, " The Raven " and " The Bells " 
are the most remarkable, the first for its rhythmical beauty 
and unearthly sadness, the second for its perfect adapta- 
tion of sound to sense. Among his tales, " The Fall of 
the House of Usher," " The Gold Bug," " The Black Cat," 
" The Murders in the Rue Morgue " and " The Purloined 
Letter " are best, but in all his writings there is nothing 
exalted or morally invigorating. 

As a critic, Poe's standard of excellence was high, but 



260 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

to him 'Art was not a means to elevate the soul to the 
Eternal Beauty, it was a something existing for its own 
sake. 

Fitz Greene Halleck (1795-1867) was one of America's best 
poets. He was born in Connecticut, but the greater 
part of his life was spent in New York, where a statue 
in Central Park is now erected in his honor. He was 
for many years confidential adviser of John Jacob 
Astor. Halleck's poems are few, but are of great excel- 
lence. His principal poem, " Marco Bozzaris," is one of 
the finest heroic odes in the language, and his " Lines on 
the Death of Drake " are unsurpassed for tender beauty. 

MARCO BOZZARIS. 

At midnight, in his guarded tent, 

The Turk lay dreaming of the hour, 
When Greece, her knee in suppliance bent, 

Should tremble at his power: 
In dreams, through camp and court, he bore 
The trophies of a conqueror; 

In dreams, his song of triumph heard; 
Then wore his monarch's signet ring; 
Then pressed that monarch's throne, a king; 
As wild his thoughts, and gay of wing, 

As Eden's garden-bird. 

At midnight, in the forest shades, 

Bozzaris ranked his Suliote band, 
True as the steel of their tried blades, 

Heroes in heart and hand. 
There, had the Persian's thousands stood; 
There, had the glad earth drunk their blood, 

In old Plataea's day: 
And now, they breathed that haunted air, 
The sons of sires who conquered there, 
With arms to strike, and souls to dare, 

As quick, as far, as they. 




EDGAR ALLAN POE. 



NATIONAL PERIOD. 263 

An hour passed on; the Turk awoke; 

That bright dream was his last ; 
He woke, to hear his sentries shriek, 
" To arms ! they come ! the Greek ! the Greek ! " 
He woke, to die mid flame and smoke, 
And shout, and groan, and saber-stroke, 

And death-shots falling thick and fast 
As lightnings from the mountain-cloud; 
And heard, with voice as trumpet loud, 

Bozzaris cheer his band : 
Strike ! till the last armed foe expires ; 
Strike ! for your altars and your fires ; 
Strike ! for the green graves of your sires ; 

God, and your native land ! " 

They fought like brave men, long and well ; 

They piled the ground with Moslem slain; 
They conquered, but Bozzaris fell, 

Bleeding at every vein. 
His few surviving comrades saw 
His smile, when rang their proud hurra, 

And the red field was won ; 
They saw in death his eye-lids close 
Calmly, as to a night's repose, 

Like flowers at set of sun. 



Come to the bridal-chamber, Death; 

Come to the mother, when she feels, 
For the first time, her first-born's breath; 

Come when the blessed seals 
Which close the pestilence are broke, 
And crowded cities wail its stroke; 
Come in consumption's ghastly form, 
The earthquake's shock, the ocean storm; 
Come when the heart beats high and warm, 

With banquet-song, and dance, and wine ; 
And thou art terrible ; the tear, 
The groan, the knell, the pall, the bier, 



264 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

And all we know, or dream, or fear 

Of agony, are thine. 
But to the hero, when his sword 

Has won the battle for the free, 
Thy voice sounds like a prophet's word, 
And in its hollow .tones are heard , 

The thanks of millions yet to be. 
***** 

Joseph Rodman Drake (1795-1820) was the author of two 
celebrated poems, " The American Flag " and " The Cul- 
prit Fay." He was a young poet of brilliant promise, 
who died at the early age of twenty-five years. 

THE AMERICAN FLAG. 

When Freedom from her mountain height. 

Unfurled her standard to the air, 
She tore the azure robe of night, 

And set the stars of glory there; 
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes 
The milky baldric of the skies, 
And striped its pure, celestial white 
With streakings of the morning light; 
Then from his mansion in the sun 
She called her eagle-bearer down, 
And gave into his mighty hand 
The symbol of her chosen land. 

Flag of the brave ! thy folds shall fly, 
The sign of hope and triumph high ! 
When speaks the signal trumpet tone, 
And the long line comes gleaming on ; 
(Ere yet the life-blood, warm and wet, 
Has dimmed the glistening bayonet), 
Each soldier eye shall brightly turn 
To where thy sky-born glories burn, 
And as his springing steps advance 
Catch war and vengeance from thy glance. 



NATIONAL PERIOD. 265 

And when the cannon-mouthings loud 
Heave in wild wreaths the battle shroud, 
And gory sabers rise and fall, 
Like shoots of flame on midnight's pall, 
Then shall thy meteor glances glow, 

And cowering foes shall sink beneath 
Each gallant arm that strikes below 

That lovely messenger of death. 
Flag of the free heart's hope and home ! 

By angel hands to valor given, 
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome, 

And all thy hues were born in heaven. 
Forever float that standard sheet ! 

Where breathes the foe, but falls before us, 
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, 

And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us ! 

Sidney Lanier (1842-1881) was a writer of tender, grace- 
ful and heroic verse ; his cantata, " From the Hun- 
dred-Terraced Height," sung at the opening of the Cen- 
tennial Exposition, claimed universal attention. His 
prose works are exquisitely finished, the principal among 
them being " Science of English Verse," " Tiger-Lilies, a 
Novel," " Centennial Ode " and " The English Novel and 
Its Development." 

BALLAD OF TREES AND THE MASTER. 

Into the woods my Master went, 
Clean forsprent, forsprent. 
Into the woods my Master came, 
• Forsprent with love and shame. 

But the olives they were not blind to Him ; 
The little gray leaves were kind to Him ; 
The thorn-tree had a mind to Him 
When into the woods He came. 

Out of the woods my Master went, 
And He was well content. 



266 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Out of the woods my Master came 

Content with Death and Shame. 

When Death and Shame would woo Him last, 

From under the trees they drew Him last. 

'Twas on a tree they slew Him last 

When out of the woods He came. 

Henry Timrod (1831-1867) wrote martial lyrics as terse 
and vehement as a Greek war-cry ; but in his idyllic 
poems, such as " Spring in Carolina," and " Katie," his 
poetic genius appears in its finest form. 

George Henry Miles (1824-1871), a contributor to many re- 
views and magazines, was remarkable for his Catholic 
spirit and for the classical beauty of his language. His 
tragedy of " Mohammed, the Arabian Prophet," obtained 
a prize of one thousand dollars against a hundred com- 
petitors. He is one of the loftiest and best of American 
Catholic poets. 

BLIGHT AND BLOOM. 

Did we not bury them? 
All those dead years of ours, 
All those poor tears of ours, 
All those pale pleading flowers — 

Did we not bury them? 

Yet in the gloom there, 
See how they stare at us, 
Hurling despair at us, 
Rising to glare at us, 

Out of the tomb there ! 

Curse every one of them i 
Kiss, clasp and token 
Vows vainly spoken, 
Hearts bruised and broken — 

Have we not done with them? 



NATIONAL PERIOD. 267 

Are we such slaves to them? — 
Down where the river leaps, 
Down where the willow weeps, 
Down where the lily sleeps, 

Dig deeper graves for them. 

Must we still stir amid 
Ghosts of our buried youth, 
Gleams of life's morning truth, 
Spices and myrrh, forsooth? 

Seal up the pyramid ! 

Reverend Abram J. Ryan (1840-1886), the "poet-priest," has 
written many beautiful poems, unequal in merit, but 
full of subtle harmonies and strange sweetness. They 
mirror the fervid feelings of the Southerner, and the 
pious aspirations of the priest. The most popular are 
" The Conquered Banner," " Erin's Flag," " The Sword 
of Robert Lee " and " The Song of the Mystic." 

John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1886) was one of the best of 
our humorous poets, quick to see the ludicrous side of 
things and felicitous in the use of puns and other 
oddities of speech. He wrote " The Proud Miss Mc- 
Bride," " The Briefless Barrister," " The Flying Dutch- 
man " and " The Masquerade." 

Richard Henry Dana (1787-1879) was distinguished as a 
poet and essayist. Among his best poems are " The Buc- 
caneer," a philosophical tale in verse, said to be the most 
powerful of American compositions, and " The Dying 
Raven." His Lectures on Shakespeare were deservedly 
popular. 

Nathanel P.Willis (1806-1867) published twenty-seven vol- 
umes of poetry and prose. Of his poetry " The 
Death of Absalom," " Hagar in the Wilderness " and 
other scriptural poems are the best. Among the best of 



268 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

his prose works are " Letters from Under a Bridge," 
" People I Have Met," " Life Here and There " and 
" Famous Persons and Places." 

Alice Cary (1820-1871) and Phebe Cary (1824-1871) are the 
best female poets that America has produced. Their 
poems are thoughtful, graceful and full of religious feel- 
ing. " Pictures from Memory," " Order for a Picture," 
"The Bridal Veil," " The Poet to the Painter" and 
" Field Preaching " are some of their best poems. w 

John Howard Payne (1792-1852) won enduring fame by a 
lyric which contains only twelve lines, but is as widely 
spread as the English-speaking world — the song 
" Home, Sweet Home." He also wrote several plays, the 
principal of which are " Brutus," " Virginius " and 
"Charles II." , 

Francis Scott Key (1779-1843) won a permanent place in 
literature by a single composition, " The Star-Spangled 
Banner." This was written during his short imprison- 
ment by the British during the war of 1812. 



CHAPTER VIIL— (Continued.) 
Prose Writers. 

Daniel Webster, one of the best orators and statesmen 
that his country ever produced, was born in Salisbury, 
New Hampshire, on the 18th of January, 1782. His 
father, Ebenezer Webster, was a distinguished soldier 
and officer in the Revolutionary War. After the war, he 
moved with his family into what was then the savage 
wilds of New Hampshire. In a humble house built in the 
woods on the outskirts of civilization, Daniel Webster 
was born. During his childhood, he was sickly and del- 
icate, and gave no promise of the robust and vigorous 
frame which he had in his manhood. It may well be sup- 
posed that his early opportunities for education were very 
scanty. In those days books were scarce and he eagerly 
read every book he could find. In his Autobiography he 
says : " I remember that my father brought home from 
some of the lower towns Pope's Essay on Man, published 
in a sort of pamphlet. I took it, and very soon I could 
repeat it from beginning to end. We had so few books 
that to read them once or twice was nothing. We thought 
they were all to be got by heart." 

At the age of fourteen, he was sent to Phillips Academy, 
in Exeter, New Hampshire, but remained only nine 
months on account of the poverty of the family. Upon 
leaving college, he immediately commenced his legal 
studies, and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1805, 
He was elected to Congress in 1813, and at once took his 

269 



270 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

place among the solid and eloquent men of the House. 
He served as United States Representative nine years 
in all, as Senator eighteen years, and he was three times 
Secretary of State. In 1852, he retired from public life, 
and died in his home by the seaside at Marshfield, Massa- 
chusetts, October 25th of the same year. 

Daniel Webster is universally acknowledged to be the 
foremost of constitutional lawyers, and of parliamentary 
debaters, and is without a peer in the highest realms of 
classic and patriotic oratory. Physically, Webster was a 
magnificent specimen of manhood. Wherever he went 
men turned to gaze at him. His face was striking both 
in form and color. The eyebrow, the eye and the dark 
and deep socket in which it glowed, were full of power. 
His smile was beaming and fascinating, lighting up his 
whole face like a sudden sunrise. His voice was rich, 
deep and strong, filling the largest space without effort, 
and when under excitement, rising and swelling into a 
violence of sound, like the roar of a tempest. His oratory 
was in perfect keeping with the man, gracious, logical and 
majestic. He was by nature free, generous and lavish 
in his manner of living; as a result his private finances 
were often much embarrassed. 

His literary works consist of speeches, forensic argu- 
ments and diplomatic papers. Of his orations, three, 
the " Bunker Hill Monument Discourses," the " Plymouth 
Rock Discourse " and the " Eulogy on Adams and Jeffer- 
son," have been declared " the very choicest masterpieces 
of all ages and all tongues." 

FROM THE FIRST BUNKER HILL DISCOURSE. 

This uncounted multitude before me and around me proves 
the feeling which the occasion has excited. These thousands 
of human faces, glowing with sympathy and joy, and from 




DANIEL WEBSTER. 



PROSE WRITERS. 273 

the impulses of a common gratitude turned reverently to heaven 
in this spacious temple of the firmament, proclaim that the 
day, the place and the purpose of our assembling have made 
a deep impression on our hearts. 

If, indeed, there be anything in local association fit to 
affect the mind of man, we need not strive to repress the 
emotions which agitate us here. We are among the sepulchers 
of our fathers. We are on ground, distinguished by their 
valor, their constancy and the shedding of their blood. We 
are here, not to fix an uncertain date in our annals, nor draw 
into notice an obscure and unknown spot. If our humble 
purpose had never been conceived, if we ourselves had never 
been born, the 17th of June, 1775, would have been a day on 
which all subsequent history would have poured its light, and 
the eminence where we stand, a point of attraction to the 
eyes of successive generations. But we are Americans. We 
live in what may be called the early age of this great Con- 
tinent; and we know that our posterity, through all time, are 
here to enjoy and suffer the allotments of humanity. We see 
before us a probable train of great events ; we know that our 
own fortunes have been happily cast; and it is natural, there- 
fore, that we should be moved by the contemplation of occur- 
rences which have guided our destiny before many of us were 
born, and settled the condition in which we should pass that 
portion of our existence which God allows to men on earth. 

But the great event in the history of the Continent, which 
we are now met here to commemorate, that prodigy of modern 
times, at once the wonder and the blessing of the world, is 
the American Revolution. In a day of extraordinary pros- 
perity and happiness, of high national honor, distinction and 
power, we are brought together, in this place, by our love of 
country, by our admiration of exalted character, by our grati- 
tude for signal services and patriotic devotion. 

We wish, finally, that the last object to the sight of him who 
leaves his native shore, and the first to gladden him who re- 
visits it, may be something which shall remind him of the 
liberty and glory of his country. Let it rise ! let it rise, till 
it meet the sun in his coming; let the earliest light of the 
morning gild it, and parting day linger and play on its summit. 
18 



274 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804=1864). 

" As a master of style, Hawthorne is inimitable. No one ever 
wrote purer English or used words more delicately and power- 
fully."— Hart. 

This greatest of American novelists was born in Salem, 
Massachusetts, in 1804, and was graduated at Bowdoin in 
1825 in the class with Longfellow. His life after leaving 
college was one of seclusion, varied by little communica- 
tion with anyone but his immediate circle of friends. 

His first publication was " Twice Told Tales." This 
received hearty praise from Longfellow, but it was not 
cordially welcomed by the public. At this time sociolog- 
ical theories were being tested at Brook Farm; Haw- 
thorne took an active part in the enterprise, but his lack 
of sympathy with its principles was shown in " The 
Blithedale Romance." During his residence in the " Old 
Manse " at Concord, " Mosses from an Old Manse " ap- 
peared ; this was a collection of papers republished from 
various magazines. In 1846 he was appointed surveyor of 
the port of Salem. A graphic picture of the custom- 
house and its inmates served as an introduction to " The 
Scarlet Letter," his masterpiece. In keen and subtle 
analysis, in patient, almost insensible development of plot, 
as well as in beauty of description, and purity and ele- 
gance of diction, it stands alone in American fiction, unap- 
proached except by other works of the same great master. 

Hawthorne also wrote " The Marble Faun," " The 
House of the Seven Gables," " Snow Image " and several 
volumes for young people. His special characteristics are 
his power of analyzing and developing the weird and mys- 
terious and of breathing a living soul into everything that 
he touched with the magic wand of his genius. Unfor- 




NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. 



PROSE WRITERS. 277 

tunately there runs through his writings a deep vein of 
melancholy, amounting almost to hopelessness. 

FROM THE SCARLET LETTER. 

All this while, Hester had been looking steadily at the old 
man, and was shocked, as well as wonder-smitten, to discern 
what a change had been wrought upon him within the past 
seven years. It was not so much that he had grown older; 
for though the traces of advancing life were visible, he bore 
his age well, and seemed to retain a wiry vigor and alertness. 
But the former aspect of an intellectual and studious man, 
calm and quiet, which was what she had best remembered in 
him, had altogether vanished, and been succeeded by an eager, 
searching, almost fierce, yet carefully guarded look. It seemed 
to be his wish and purpose to mask this expression with a 
smile ; but the latter played him false, and flickered over his 
visage so derisively, that the spectator could see his blackness 
all the better for it. Ever and anon, too, there came a glare of 
red light out of his eyes ; as if the old man's soul were on fire, 
and kept on smoldering duskily within his breast, until, by 
some casual puff of passion, it was blown into a momentary 
flame. This he repressed as speedily as possible, and strove 
to look as if nothing of the kind had happened. 

In a word, old Roger Chillingworth was a striking evidence 
of man's faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he 
will only, for a reasonable space of time, undertake a devil's 
office. This unhappy person had affected such a transforma- 
tion, by devoting himself, for seven years, to the constant analy- 
sis of a heart full of torture, and deriving his enjoyment thence, 
and adding fuel to those fiery tortures which he analyzed and 
gloaied over. 

The scarlet letter burned on Hester Prynne's bosom. Here 
was another ruin, the responsibility of which came partly home 
to her. 

" What see you in my face," asked the physician, " that you 
look at it so earnestly ? " 

" Something that would make me weep, if there were any 
tears bitter enough for it," answered she. " But let it pass ! It 
is of yonder miserable man that I would speak." 



278 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

"And what of him ? " cried Roger Chillingworth, eagerly, as 
if he loved the topic, and were glad of an opportunity to dis- 
cuss it with the only person of whom he could make a confidant. 
" Not to hide the truth, Mistress Hester, my thoughts happen 
just now to be busy with the gentleman. So speak freely; and 
I will make answer." 

" When we last spake together," said Hester, " now seven 
years ago, it was your pleasure to extort a promise of secrecy 
as touching the former relation between yourself and me. As 
the life and good fame of yonder man were in your hands, there 
seemed no choice to me save to be silent, in accordance with 
your behest. Yet it was not without heavy misgivings that I thus 
bound myself; for, having cast off all duty toward other human 
beings, there remained a duty toward him; and something 
whispered me that I was betraying it, in pledging myself to keep 
our counsel. Since that day, no man is so near to him as you. 
You tread behind his every footstep. You are beside him, sleep- 
ing and waking. You search his thoughts. You burrow and 
rankle in his heart ! Your clutch is on his life, and you cause 
him to die daily a living death ; and still he knows you not. In 
permitting this, I have surely acted a false part by the only man 
to whom the power was left me to be true ! " 

" What choice had you ? " asked Roger Chillingworth. " My 
finger, pointed at this man, would have hurled him into a dun- 
geon, — thence, peradventure, to the gallows ! " _ 

" It had been better so ! " said Hester Prynne. 

"Yea, woman, thou sayest truly!" cried old Roger Chilling- 
worth, letting the lurid fire of his heart blaze out before her 
eyes. " Better had he died at once ! Never did mortal suffer 
what this man has suffered. And all, all, in the sight of his worst 
enemy. He has been conscious of me. He has felt an influence 
dwelling always upon him like a curse. He knew that no friendly 
hand was pulling at his heartstrings, and that an eye was look- 
ing, curiously into him, which sought only evil, and found it. But 
he knew not that the eye and hand were mine. With the super- 
stition common to his brotherhood, he fancied himself given 
over to a fiend, to be tortured with frightful dreams, and desperate 
thoughts, the sting of remorse and despair of pardon; as a fore- 
taste of what awaits him beyond the grave. But it was the con- 
stant shadow of my presence ! — the closest propinquity of the 






PROSE WRITERS. 279 

man whom he had most vilely wronged ! — and who had grown 
to exist only by this perpetual poison of the direst revenge ! Yea, 
indeed ! — he did not err ! — there was a fiend at his elbow ! A 
mortal man, with once a human heart, has become a fiend for his 
especial torment ! " 

" Peace, Hester, peace ! " replied the old man, with gloomy 
sternness. " It is not granted me to pardon. I have no such 
power as thou tellest me of. My old faith, long forgotten, 
comes back to me, and explains all that we do, and all that 
we suffer. By thy first step awry thou didst plant the germ of 
evil ; but since that moment, it has all been a dark necessity. 
Ye that have wronged me are not- sinful, save in a kind of 
typical illusion ; neither am I fiend-like, who have snatched a 
fiend's office from his hands. It is our fate. Let the black flower 
blossom as it may ! Now go thy ways, and deal as thou wilt with 
yonder man." 

He waved his hand, and betook himself again to his employ- 
ment of gathering herbs. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882). 

"As Wordsworth's poetry is, in my judgment, the most im- 
portant work done in verse in our language during the century, 
so Emerson's essays are the most important work done in prose." 
— Matthew Arnold. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston of an old 
Puritan family. He was educated at Harvard and became 
a Unitarian minister in his native city. After three years, 
finding that he could not hold the same belief as his 
congregation, he abandoned the ministry, courageously 
sacrificing his position to his change of convictions. 
Emerson was, on his own admission, a transcendentalist, 
or extreme realist, and pantheist. The peculiar quality 
of his mind has been likened to German mysticism and 
the visions of the Neo-Platonists, while the Hon. Anson 
Burlingame declared that " there are twenty thousand 
Ralph Waldo Emersons in China." 



280 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

His principal works are " Essays," " Representative 
Men," " English Traits," " Lectures and Addresses " and 
" Poems." His representative men are Plato, the Philoso- 
pher; Swedenborg, the Mystic; Montaigne, the Skeptic; 
Shakespeare, the Poet ; Napoleon, the Man of the World, 
and Goethe, the Writer. It is not as an essayist, poet or 
philosopher that Emerson will be best remembered ; there 
was something in himself that compelled admiration. He 
appears to have been a powerful personality^ for he cer- 
tainly influenced many of the finer minds of New Eng- 
land, and no doubt he led a noble and intellectual life. 
His exquisite sestheticism took away the grossness of the 
results to which his materialistic philosophy leads. De- 
spite his bad philosophy and want of revealed religion, 
we discover in his verse and prose an exquisite sense 
of beauty, which renders his works most enticing and 
most dangerous. 

In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes, 
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods, 
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook, 
To please the desert and the sluggish brook; 
The purple petals fallen in the pool 

Made the black waters with their beauty gay; 
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool, 

And court the flower that cheapens his array. 
Rhodora : if the sages ask thee why 
This charm is wasted on the marsh and sky, 
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing, 
Then beauty is its own excuse for being. 
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose! 

I never thought to ask, I never knew ; 
But in my simple ignorance suppose 

The self-same Power that brought me there brought you. 



PROSE WRITERS. 281 

Orestes A. Brownson (1803-1876). — Orestes A. Brownson 
was born at Stockbridge, Vermont, in 1803. He was 
adopted by an aged Puritan couple, who trained him 
according to their rigid ideas of propriety. He says of 
himself that, " debarred from all the sports, plays and 
amusements of children, he had the manners, the tone 
and tastes of an old man before he was a boy." At an 
early age he had learned to read, and from his fourteenth 
year he was obliged to support himself by hard labor. For 
a short time he studied at an academy in Ballston, N. Y., 
but it was principally by his own efforts and his constant 
application to reading, reflecting and writing that he 
developed his latent genius. 

His interesting story, " The Convert," relates his relig- 
ious wanderings. A Congregationalist, a Presbyterian, 
a Universalist, a Rationalist and a Socialist, he was every- 
thing in turn and satisfied with nothing until he found 
in the Catholic Church the solution of all his doubts — the 
solace of all his troubles. Henceforward all the efforts 
of his pen were devoted to the defense of Catholic prin- 
ciples. Brownson's Quarterly Review was founded nearly 
one year before his conversion ; this Review he supported 
almost single-handed during twenty years. The want of 
a regular course of studies in his youth, the lack of a 
thorough Catholic training and the necessity of hurrying 
his articles through the press, made him liable to hasty 
and crude statements, to inaccuracies and errors, to 
changes and modifications in his views and opinions. His 
faith, how T ever, never faltered, and his conduct in regard 
to the sacraments and practices of the Church was always 
that of a fervent Catholic. 

His principal works are " The American Republic," 



282 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

"The Convert," "Charles Elwood," "The Spirit Rap- 
per " and his " Essays." 

John Boyle O'Reilly (1844-1890). —John Boyle O'Reilly 
was born at Dowth Castle, County Meath, Ireland, June 
28, 1844. His father, William David O'Reilly, was the 
master of the Netterville Institution and was a fine 
scholar. His mother, Eliza Boyle, was nearly related 
to Colonel John Allen, famous among the Irish rebels of 
'98. Young O'Reilly had from his father a thorough 
scholastic training, while from his mother he inherited 
poetic genius and a strong passion of patriotism. The 
circumstances and surroundings of his boyhood were well 
calculated to inspire in him those yearnings for liberty 
and devotion to country which seven centuries have shown 
to be ineradicable in the Irish people. 

He is a representative of much that is peculiarly char- 
acteristic of our own age and time. His life is a romance 
stranger than the wildest dreams of fiction. At the age 
of thirteen he was a student in school at Drogheda, Ire- 
land ; at seventeen a stenographer in England ; at nine- 
teen a private soldier in the Irish Hussars ; at twenty-two 
lying in a dungeon in Dublin, condemned to death for 
treason against Great Britain ; at twenty-four a nameless 
convict in a criminal colony in West Australia. 

On November 3, 1869, John Boyle O'Reilly landed in 
the United States penniless. He was only twenty-five 
years of age, of splendid physique, brilliant and cou- 
rageous. After spending a short time in Philadelphia and 
New York he went to Boston and obtained employment 
on the Pilot. In 1873 he published his first volume of 
poems, " Songs of the Southern Seas." This was fol- 
lowed by " Songs, Legends and Ballads ; " " Moondyne," 
his famous novel ; " Statues in the Block and Other 




JOHN BQYLE O'REILLY. 



PROSE WRITERS. 285 

Poems ; " " In Bohemia ; " " The Ethics of Boxing and 
Manly Sport; " and " Stories and Sketches." 

In July, 1870, Mr. O'ReiUy became editor of the Pilot, 
and when that paper was sold he became, in connection 
with Archbishop Williams, part proprietor. He was a 
frequent contributor to the Galaxy, Scribner's, the At- 
lantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine, 

On Sunday morning, August 10, 1890, without prelim- 
inary illness, in the noontide of life, with promise of a 
fruitful career, John Boyle OReilly was stricken with 
death. This was caused by an overdose of medicine for 
insomnia. As a journalist he would have ranked high in 
any place. His mind was broad, elastic and expansive, 
and he possessed the ability of acutely feeling the pulse 
of his constituency and guiding his conduct accordingly. 
A remarkable fact about him was that his sorrows in 
dungeon and penal settlement, enough to have broken 
the heart and hope of many a really strong man, failed to 
sour or embitter him. These words of his have the true 
poetic insight : 

I Know- 
That when God gives us clearest light, 
He does not touch our eyes with love, but sorrow. 

He made even his dreary experiences in Western Aus- 
tralia yield to him some of the sweetest honey of poesy. 
Sorrow made him tender and sympathetic with all whose 
hearts were sad. His pen and voice and purse were al- 
ways at the service of the poor and oppressed. 

FOREVER. 

Those we love truly never die, 
Though year by year the sad memorial wreath, 
A ring and flowers, types of life and death, 

Are laid upon their graves. 



286 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

For death the pure life saves, 
And life all pure is love; and love can reach 
From Heaven to earth, the nobler lessons teach, 

Than those by mortals read. 

Well blest is he who has a dear one dead : 
A friend he has whose face will never change — 
A dear communion that will not grow strange; 

The anchor of love is death. 

The blessed sweetness of a loving breath 
Will reach our cheek all fresh through weary years ; 
For her who died long since, ah! waste not tears. 

She's thine unto the end. 

Thank God for one dead friend ; 
With face still radiant with the light of truth, 
Whose love comes laden with the scent of youth, 

Through twenty years of death. 

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891). — James Russell Lowell 
was born in Cambridge, Mass., in 1819. He was edu- 
cated at Llarvard, and for more than twenty years was 
Professor of Belles Lettres in that institution. It is diffi- 
cult to do justice to his work in its various departments; 
his prose lacks the charm of Hawthorne and the neatness 
of Holmes ; in poetry he ranks below Bryant and Whit- 
tier. Among his best poems are " The Legend of Brit- 
tany," " The Vision of Sir Launfal," " The Cathedral " 
and " Under the Willows." His criticisms under the title 
of " Among My Books " and " My Study Windows," are 
his best productions. These display an extensive knowl- 
edge and sound judgment and are written in a brilliant 
and forcible style. 




J. RUSSELL LOWELL. 



PROSE WRITERS. 289 



LONGING. 



Of all the myriad moods of mind 

That through the soul come thronging, 
Which one was e'er so dear, so kind, 

So beautiful, as Longing? 
The thing we long for, that we are 

For one transcendent moment, 
Before the Present poor and bare 

Can make its sneering comment. 

Still, through our paltry stir and strife, 

Glows down the wished Ideal, 
And longing moulds in clay what Life 

Carves in the marble Real ; 
To let the new life in, we know, 

Desire must ope the portal ; — 
Perhaps the longing to be so 

Helps make the soul immortal. 

Longing is God's fresh heavenward will, 

With our poor earthward striving; 
We quench it that we may be still 

Content with merely living; 
But would we learn that heart's full scope 

Which we are hourly wronging, 
Our lives must climb from hope to hope, 

And realize our longing. 

Ah ! let us hope that to our praise 

Good God not only reckons 
The moments when we tread his ways, 

But when the spirit beckons, — 
That some slight good is also wrought 

Beyond self-satisfaction, 
When we are simply good in thought, 

Howe'er we fail in action. 



290 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

FROM AMONG MY BOOKS. 

Dante's ideal of life, the enlightening and strengthening of 
that native instinct of the soul which leads it to strive back- 
ward toward its divine source, may sublimate the senses till 
each becomes a window for the light of truth and the splendor 
of God to shine through. In him, as in Calderon, the perpetual 
presence of imagination not only glorifies the philosophy of life, 
and the science of theology, but idealizes both in symbols of 
material beauty. Though Dante's conception of the highest 
end of man was that he should climb through every phase of 
human experience to that transcendental and super-sensual region 
where the true, the good and the beautiful blend, in the white 
light of God, yet the prism of his imagination forever resolved 
the way into color again, and he loved to show it also where, 
entangled and obstructed in matter, it became beautiful once 
more to the eye of sense. . . . 

Complete and harmonious in design as Dante's work is, it is 
yet no Pagan temple enshrining a type of the human made divine 
by triumph of corporeal beauty ; it is not a private chapel housing 
a singe saint and dedicate to one chosen bloom of Christian 
piety or devotion; it is truly a cathedral over whose high altar 
hangs the emblem of suffering, of the divine made human to 
teach the beauty of adversity, the eternal presence of the spiritual, 
not overhanging and threatening, but informing and sustaining 
the material. In this cathedral of Dante's, there are side-chapels 
as is fit, with altars to all Christian virtues and perfections ; but 
the great impression of its leading thought is that of aspiration 
forever and ever. . . . 

George Bancroft (1800-1891), our national historian, was 
born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1800. He was 
educated at Harvard and afterward studied at Gottingen 
and Berlin, taking the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 
in 1820. His first publications were translations of Schil- 
ler, Goethe and other German authors, but his great work 
is his " History of the United States." Considered purely 
as a literary work this History ranks high, but from a 
moral point of view it is objectionable owing to the dan- 



PROSE WRITERS. _ 291 

gerous theories which it advances in regard to God, man- 
kind and society. 

James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) was the first Amer- 
ican writer to win a European reputation. His novels 
are thirty-three in number. The most popular are " The 
Spy," " The Prairie," " The Last of the Mohicans " and 
" The Pilot." His delineations of border life and char- 
acter are extremely graphic. 

Bayard Taylor (1825-1878), one of the greatest of mod- 
ern travelers, attained high rank both as a poet and a 
novelist. His principal poems are " The Poet's Journal," 
" The Picture of St. John," " Lars " and " Prince Deuka- 
lion." Among his novels are " Hannah Thurston," " John 
Godfrey's Fortunes " and " The Story of Kennet." He 
also translated Goethe's " Faust." This translation is the 
more beautiful because he retained the meter as in the 
original. 

William H. Prescott (1796-1859) occupies a permanent place 
among the great historians of the world. His prin- 
cipal works are " Ferdinand and Isabella," " Conquest 
of Mexico," " Conquest of Peru " and a volume of " Mis- 
cellanies." 

John Gilmary Shea, D. D. (1821-1892), is a leading authority 
on the early history of North America. His chief 
works are " Discovery and Exploration of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley," " History of the Catholic Missions 
Among the Indian Tribes of the United States " and 
" History of the Catholic Church in the United States." 

Most Reverend Martin John Spalding (1810-1872), late Arch- 
bishop of Baltimore, one of the most eminent Catholic 
prelates, wrote " Sketches of the Early Catholic 
Missions of Kentucky," " History of the Protestant 
Reformation in All Countries " and " Miscellanea." He 



292 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

wrote also a series of lectures on the " Evidences of Ca- 
tholicity " and a '" Pastoral on the Dogma of Infallibility." 

Very Reverend Isaac T. Hecker (1819=1889) was one of the 
most earnest workers in promoting literary interests 
among the Catholics of the United States. His chief 
works are " Questions of the Soul " and its sequel, " As- 
pirations of the Soul." Father Hecker was the founder 
of the Catholic World, one of the leading Catholic mag- 
azines published in America. 

Right Reverend John England, D. D. (1786=1842) was an able 
and eloquent divine, a promoter of learning and a friend 
of every benevolent scheme. His best literary productions 
are his doctrinal discourses. 

Brother Azarias (1847-1893) was born in Utica, New York. 
He entered the Christian Brotherhood in 1863. Besides 
several articles written for the Catholic Quarterly and 
other periodicals Brother Azarias has published " Devel- 
opment of English Thought," "Aristotle and the Chris- 
tian Church," " Books and Reading," " Culture of the 
Spiritual Sense," " On Thinking " and " Psychological 
Aspects of Education." The style of this gifted writer 
is remarkable for beauty, ease and clearness. 

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850=1895, by birth a Scotchman, 
was one of the most promising and brilliant writers of 
romance. His principal works are " Treasure Island," 
the " Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde " and 
" Kidnapped." In originality, in the conception of action 
and situation, in the union of bracing and heroic char- 
acter and adventure, in all that belongs to tale-writing, 
his gift was exhaustless. He died at the early age of 
forty-four in Samoa, one of the islands of the Southern 
Pacific. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Writers of the Present Era. 

Edmund Clarence Stedman, poet and critic, is among the 
best known and most highly esteemed of living authors. 
His war lyrics are greatly admired ; two of the best are 
" Fort Sumter " and " Wanted — A Man." It is, how- 
ever, as a critic that Stedman is best known. His prin- 
cipal works are " Poems, Lyric and Idyllic," " The Vic- 
torian Poets," " Poets of America " and " The Nature 
and Elements of Poetry." 

Richard Henry Stoddard may be regarded to-day as the 
veteran poet of America. 'His chief characteristics are 
elegance of diction and fastidious taste. Among the best 
of his poems are " The Search for Persephone," " The 
Flight of Youth," " Hymn to the Sea "and " The King's 
Bell." 

Father John B. Tabb is a poet-priest, whose verse is singu- 
larly artistic and refined. For delicacy of thought, artistic 
compensation and the glow of a truly poetic inspiration, 
Father Tabb is unsurpassed. 

Thomas Bailey Aldrich is a writer of charming poems. He 
has given us in prose and verse the following volumes : 
" Friar Jerome's Beautiful Book," " Cloth of Gold," 
" Flower of Gold," " Pampinea," "An Old Town by the 
Sea " and " Wyndham Towers." 

Charles Warren Stoddard has the fine touch and keen vis- 
ion of a poet. His poems are full of the breath and music 

293 



294 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

of true inspiration. His prose style has been likened to 
that of Pierre Loti, the eminent French writer. Stoddard 
has published several works, chief among them being 
" Hawaiian Life, or Lazy Letters from Low Latitudes " 
and " South Sea Idyls." 

Coventry Patmore is a writer of verse which is deservedly 
popular. His principal work is " The Angel in the 
House," of which Ruskin says : " It is a -most finished 
piece of writing and the sweetest analysis we possess of 
quiet modern domestic feeling." Other poems by Pat- 
more are " Faithful Forever," " The Woodman's Daugh- 
ter," " Tamertown Church Tower," " The Victories of 
Love " and " The River." 

James Jeffrey Roche is one of the brightest journalists in 
America. His first volume of poems was entitled " Songs 
and Satires ; " a later volume, " Ballads of Blue Waters," 
recounts the heroic deeds of the American navy. He has 
also written an excellent life of his chief and co-laborer, 
John Boyle O'Reilly. 

Walter Lecky is better known as a critic and novelist than 
as a poet. His characterizations are admirable, and live 
in our memory as fellow creatures who have joyed and 
toiled and wept. He is the author of " Billy Buttons," a 
novel, and two volumes of essays, " Green Graves in Ire- 
land " and " Down at Caxtons." 

Maurice Francis Egan is an able critic, and a poet of ex- 
quisite taste. He has published two volumes of verse, 
" Preludes " and " Songs and Sonnets." His best prose 
works are " Lectures in English Literature," "A Marriage 
of Reason " and " The Vocation of Edward Conway." 

Paul Hamilton Hayne was essentially a lyric poet. No 
American poet has written more lovingly or discrimi- 



PROSE WRITERS. 295 

natingly than he of nature in her ever-varying aspects, 
and in this allegiance he rivals Wordsworth, writing, too, 
with a grace that the old lake poet lacks. His best poems 
are his " War Lyrics," " The Mocking Bird," " October " 
and "A Dream of the South Wind." 

John James Piatt is called by Stedman the laureate of 
prairie and homestead life. He has published seven vol- 
umes of verse, " filled with the spirit which broods over 
furrow and harvest field." 

Joaquin Miller is known as the poet of the sierras. There 
is a breadth and a freedom in his work which is a distinc- 
tive feature. His principal poems are contained in the 
volumes entitled " Songs of the Sierras," " Songs of the 
Sun-Lands " and " The Ship in the Desert." Of indi- 
vidual poems, " The Isles of the Amazons," " The Ari- 
zonian " and " Burns and Byron " are among the best. 

Francis Marion Crawford holds the first place in the 
American school of romantic novelists. Crawford studied 
at Harvard, at Trinity College, Cambridge, at Karlsruhe 
and Heidelberg, and at the University of Rome, thus 
gaining a world-wide experience. The author's artistic 
creed is clearly expressed in his " The Novel, What It 
Is." Crawford's first novel was " Dr. Isaacs," published 
in 1882 ; since then " Dr. Claudius," "A Roman Singer," 
" Paul Patoff," " Saracinesca," " Casa Braccio " and 
other tales have followed in quick succession. 

Lew Wallace is the author of "Ben Hur, A Tale of the 
Christ," the most popular novel written in America dur- 
ing the last quarter of a century. Its graphic pictures of 
Oriental life are wonderfully well drawn. 

Father John Talbot Smith is an original and forceful writer 
of novels, essays and poems. As a writer of fiction, 



296 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Father Smith belongs to the analytical school, his novels 
in every instance having a purpose. His chief works are 
" Saranac," " Solitary Island," "A Woman of Culture " 
and " Our Seminaries." 

Father Francis J. Finn, S. J., is a writer of incomparable 
stories for boys. Nothing more wholesome than his writ- 
ings can be found in literature for young people. Very 
popular tales are " Percy Wynn," " Tom Playfair," 
" Mostly Boys " and " The Football Game." 

William Dean Howells is noted for his accuracy of char- 
acterization, great refinement of style and fine touches of 
humor. His chief works are " Venetian Life," " Italian 
Journeyings," " The World of Chance," " The Rise of 
Silas Lapham," " The Coast of Bohemia " and "A Trav- 
eler from Altruria." 

Edward Everett Hale is a scholarly lecturer, and an able 
journalist. As a writer of fiction he is at his best in his 
short stories. " The Man Without a Country " is re- 
garded as his best work. 

Henry James is a critic of acknowledged ability. He 
faithfully records life as he sees it, leaving the reader to 
draw conclusions from the characters set forth and re- 
vealed in the novel. James is said to be the founder of 
the realistic school in America. His novels deal chiefly 
with the experiences of Americans in Europe or with 
those of Europeans in America, hence are designated 
international novels. He has written "An International 
Episode," " Daisy Miller," " Tales of Three Cities " and 
" The Bostonians." 

Edward Eggleston will long be remembered as being the 
author of " The Hoosier Schoolmaster," a picture of 
pioneer life on the Western frontier. Other works by 



PROSE WRITERS. 297 

Eggleston are "The Gravsons," "The Circuit Rider," 
" Tecnmseh " and " Brant and Red Jacket." 

John T. Trowbridge is both poet and novelist. His poems, 
" Darius Green and His Flying Machine," " The Vaga- 
bonds " and " Farmer John " are well known. He is a 
popular writer of stories for boys. " Neighbor Jackwood," 
" The Bright-Hope Series " and " Coupon Bonds " are all 
interesting. 

George Washington Cable writes of the Creoles and Ar- 
cadians in Louisiana. His portraiture of the Creoles, 
while strong and artistic, is frequently false and unjust 
in its representation. His chief works are " The Grandis- 
simes," " Old Creole Days," " Madame Delphine," " Dr. 
Sevier " and " John March, Southerner." 

Richard Malcolm Johnston is called the dean of Southern 
literature. He depicts life among the Georgia " Crack- 
ers," and his tales are marked by a simplicity and truth 
at once admirable and charming. Colonel Johnston has 
written " Dukesborough Tales," " Old Mark Langston," 
" History of English Literature " and " Lectures on the 
English and Spanish Drama." 

Thomas Nelson Page, in his " In Old Virginia " and in 
other works, draws faithfully the portrait of the Old Vir- 
ginia darky. 

Joel Chandler Harris, in " Uncle Remus," sketches the 
Georgia negro. 

John Esten Cooke, author of " Stories of the Old Domin- 
ion," has written many novels dealing with the life and 
history of Virginia. Of these, " Surry of Eagle's Nest " 
is the most popular 

Mary Noailles Murfree, or " Charles Egbert Craddock," 
has taken Tennessee into her special literary keeping, and 



298 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

has made classic ground of the Great Smoky Mountains. 
Her characters are boldly drawn, and stand out from the 
background in all their unique picturesqueness. Miss 
Murfree's most powerful story is " The Prophet of the 
Great Smoky Mountains ; " other works are " Down the 
Ravine," " In the Clouds," " The Despot of Broomsedge 
Cove " and " In the Stranger People's Country." 

Helen Hunt Jackson has written her name immortally into 
the literature of American. " Ramona " is perhaps the 
best novel ever produced by an American woman. As a' 
piece of artistic composition it claims the front rank, and 
so vividly drawn are the pictures of the Mission district 
of California that it has done much to attract visitors to 
this section of the country. There is a mysticism about 
the poetry of Mrs. Jackson that reminds one of the Dial 
group ; as a sonnet writer she has had few equals. 

Frances C. Tiernan or " Christian Reid," is an eminent 
novelist and a fine descriptive writer. Her " Land of the 
Sun, Mexico," is pronounced by competent authority the 
best work on that subject. The immediate success of 
" Valerie Aylmer," her first venture as a novelist, encour- 
aged her to pursue her evident vocation as a writer of 
fiction, and since that first attempt she has written almost 
constantly. Among her best novels are " Heart of Steel," 
"Armine," " Carmela " and "After Many Days." 

Katherine E. Conway is possessed of brilliant faculties of 
speech and pen, holding her audience spellbound during 
her readings of essays on religious and literary subjects 
before social and literary clubs. Miss Conway became 
connected with the Boston Pilot during the time it was 
edited by the gifted John Boyle O'Reilly, and she is still 
co-editress under the present management of that paper. 
She has published two books of poems, " On the Sunrise 



PROSE WRITERS. 299 

Slopes " and "A Dream of Lilies ; " her prose works are, 
" Watchwords of John Boyle O'Reilly " and " The Fam- 
ily Sitting Room Series." All her literary workmanship 
bears the impress of scholarship and good taste. 

Eleanor C. Donnelly has contributed largely to current lit- 
erature, and has published many volumes of poems. In 
the spirit and method of her work she has been compared 
to Adelaide Proctor, but her touch is stronger and her 
inspiration deeper than that of the gentle English singer. 
For the last ten years Miss Donnelly has represented 
Catholic literature on all occasions of national interest 
wherein women have figured. Her " Life of Father Bar- 
belin " won flattering comments, and she has excelled in 
religious compilations. 

Mary Elizabeth Blake is singularly happy in her narrative 
poems — idyls of humble domestic life. Her prose style 
is clear and picturesque, and this is best seen in her papers 
on social questions. " On the Wing," the record of a 
trip to California, and "A Summer Holiday in Europe," 
are good specimens of Mrs. Blake's literary work. 

Anna Hanson Dorsey was one of the pioneers of Catholic 
fiction in the United States. During a busy life of more 
than half a century she won popularity by writings that 
were unvaryingly pure, wholesome and uplifting. Her 
principal works are " Palms," " Coaina," " Heiress of 
Carrigmona " and " The Mad Penitent of Todi." 

Mary A. Sadlier belongs to the literary forces that com- 
bated when Dr. Brownson, Dr. Huntington, Thomas 
D'Arcy McGee and J. A. McMaster were in the field. 
Her work is enduring, and it will continue to live in 
the hearts and minds of the thousands who have been 
influenced by its noble spirit and teaching. Her best- 
known works are " The Blakes and Flannigans," " The 



300 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Confederate Chieftains " and " The Old House by the 
Boyne." 

Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren wrote many novels and poems. 
Her best works are " South Mountain Magic/' " A Secret 
Directory," "A Washington Winter " and " Etiquette of 
Social Life in Washington." Her poems have found a 
place in the anthologies of poets. 

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward is a writer of prose idyls 
descriptive of New England life. Her strongest and most 
finished novel is "A Singular Life." Other works are 
"Gates Ajar," "Songs of the Silent World" and "The 
Silent Partner." 

Harriet Prescott Spofford is both poet and novelist. A 
collection of her tales, entitled " The Amber Gods," re- 
veals her strength in fiction, while her lyrics are sweet 
and tender. 

Frances Hodgson Burnett gained recognition as a writer 
through her powerful tale, " That Lass o' Lowrie's/' and 
later by " Little Lord Fauntleroy." 

Augusta Evans Wilson is a popular Southern novelist of 
great originality ; author of " Beulah," " Macaria," "St. 
Elmo " and " Infelice." 

ESSAYISTS. 

His eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, is the distinguished 
writer of " The Faith of Our Fathers," " Our Christian 
Heritage " and " The Ambassador of Christ " — works 
which are rich contributions to American letters. 

John Lancaster Spalding, Bishop of Peoria, a profound and 
original thinker, is the writer of essays which are the 
product of a master mind, a ripe and broad scholarship. 
Collections of these essays are published under the titles 
of " Education and the Higher Life," " Things of the 
Mind," " Means and End of Education." 



PROSE WRITERS. 301 

Thomas O'Hagan, M. A., Ph. D., is a poet, critic and essay- 
ist whose writings receive a warm welcome. His poems 
have won the praise and admiration of Whittier, Holmes 
and other veterans of the literary art, but it is as a critic 
that Mr. O'Hagan is best known. His studies in poetry, 
contributed in the form of papers to various magazines, 
have brought out prominently his critical judgment. His 
" Study of Canadian Poets " and " Tennyson's Princess," 
which appeared during the past years, are two of the 
ablest papers of their kind. 

Donald G. Mitchell, " Ik Marvel," is a genial, graceful 
writer, who will long be remembered by his two charm- 
ing books, " Reveries of a Bachelor " and " Dream Life." 
His latest and perhaps his best work is " English Lands, 
Literature and Kings." 

Josiah Gilbert Holland, for many years editor of Scribner's 
Monthly, was poet, novelist and essayist. His poems are 
faulty in construction, but contain many exquisite lines. 
Some of his best prose works are " Gold Foil," " Lessons 
in Life," " Plain Talks," " Arthur Bonnicastle " and 
" Sevenoaks." 

Charles Dudley Warner holds intellectual kinship with 
Irving and Holmes. His essays are replete with a genial 
and pleasant humor ; some of the most popular are " My 
Summer in a Garden," " Back-Log Studies," * My Win- 
ter on the Nile " and " Life of Washington Irving." 

Agnes Repplier has written for the Century, Catholic 
World and Atlantic Monthly. While hers is a compara- 
tively new name in literary records, yet, in the domain 
of criticism, it means good judgment, fine literary taste 
and an exquisite charm of style. She has published 
" Points of View," " Books and Men," " In Dozy Hours " 
and other volumes of essays. 



302 LESSONS IN LITERATURE. 

Louise Imogen Guiney has just published three volumes 
of verse, " Songs at the Start," " White Sail " and "A 
Roadside Harp." Strength and restrained energy mark 
all the poetic work of Miss Guiney. 

Mother Austin Carroll, of the Sisters of Mercy, is a most 
gifted woman, who, during her busy life, has published 
some thirty books. She has written "Annals of the Sisters 
of Mercy," " Glimpses of Pleasant Homes," and has con- 
tributed to many periodicals. 

Augusta Theodosia Drane, or Mother Frances Raphael, 
O. S. D., has made many important contributions to 
Catholic literature. 

HUMOROUS WRITERS. 

Bret Harte was the originator of dialect poetry in 
America. This gifted writer portrays well the heart and 
speech of the common people. His best dialect poem is 
" The Heathen Chinee ; " among his prose sketches are 
" The Luck of Roaring Camp," " The Outcasts of Poker 
Flat " and " Tennessee's Partner." 

Eugene Field, the poet of childhood, was also a dialect 
poet. From out his great, kindly heart jetted and bubbled 
tender tides of love and fun and frolic. 

James Whitcomb Riley, Will Carleton, John Hay, 
Irwin Russell, Charles Godfrey Leland, have excelled in 
this style of writing. 

Chief among the humorists are Artemus Ward, Mark 
Twain, Bill Nye, Josh Billings, Mrs. Partington, Petro- 
leum V. Nasby, Eli Perkins and Orpheus C. Kerr. , 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Adams, John 241 

Addison, Joseph 109 

Akenside, Mark 141 

Aldrieh, Thomas Bailey 293 

Alfred the Great 11 

"American Flag " 264 

"Among My Books " 264 

"Anatomy of Melancholy"... 60 

Anselm, Saint 14 

"Arcadia " 59 

Ascham, Roger 27 

Austen, Jane 233 

Autocrat at the Breakfast 

Table 257 

Azarias, Brother 292 

Bacon, Roger 14 

Bacon, Sir Francis 51 

Bancroft, George 290 

" Battle of the Books " 106 

" Bay Psalm Book " 236 

Beaumont and Fletcher 61 

Bede, The Venerable 11 

" Beggars' Opera " 141 

Beowulf 9 

Blackstone, Sir William 141 

Blake, Mary Elizabeth 299 

" Blight and Bloom " 266 

Boccaccio 24 

Bronte, Charlotte 233 

Browne, Sir Thomas 92 

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. 165 

Browning, Robert 161 

Brownson. Orestes 281 

Bryant, William Cullen 251 

Bulwer-Lytton 233 

" Bunker Hill Discourse " . . . . 270 

Bunyan, John 90 

Burbage, Richard 35 

Burke. Edmund 130 

Burnett. Frances Hodgson. . .300 

Burns. Robert 136 

Burton, Robert 60 

Butler, Alban 141 

Butler, Samuel 88 

Byron, George Gordon 168 

Gable, George Washington. . .297 

Ca?dmon 9 

Oalderon, Pedro de la Barca. . 44 

Campbell. Thomas 175 

" Canterbury Tales " 23 

Oarlvle, Thomas 214 

Carroll. Mother Austin 302 

Cary, Alice 268 



PAGE. 

Cary, Phebe 268 

Caxton, William 26 

Cervantes 44 

Challoner, Richard 141 

" Chambered Nautilus " 258 

Chatterton, Thomas 141 

Chaucer 18 

" Childe Harold " 171 

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. .. .166 

Collins, William 141 

Comus 66 

"Conciliation with America ".132 

Conway, Katherine E 298 

Cooke, John Esten 297 

Cooper, James Fennimore. . . .291 

Corneille 77 

Cowley, Abraham 87 

Cowper, William 133 

Craik, Mrs 234 

Crashaw, Richard 85 

Crawford, Francis Marion. . .295 

Cromwell, Oliver 64 

" Crossing the Bar " 157 

Dahlgren, Madeleine Vinton . . 300 

D'Alembert 103 

Dana, Richard Henry 267 

Dante 24 

Davenant, Sir William 92 

" David Copperfleld " 213 

Davis, Thomas 179 

" Decameron " 25 

Defoe, Daniel 142 

De Quincy. Thomas 220 

" Deserted Village " 126 

Dickens, Charles 211 

Diderot 103 

Digby, Kenelm 232 

" Divina Commedia " 24 

Donnelly, Eleanor C 299 

Don Quixote 44 

Dorsey, Anna Hanson 299 

Drake, Joseph Rodman 264 

Drane, Augusta Theodosia. . .302 

" Drapier Letters " 107 

Drayton, Michael 60 

" Dream of Gerontius " 186 

Dryden, John 78 

Egan, Maurice Francis 294 

Egsleston, Edward 296 

" Elegy written in a Country 

Churchyard" 127 

Eliot, George 224 

303 



304 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Elizabethan Period 29 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo 279 

England, Rt. Rev. John 292 

" Essay on Burns " 216 

" Essay on Man " 101 

" Euphues " 60 

" Evangeline " 244 

Evelyn, John 93 

Faber, Frederick William. .. .221 

Fichte 104 

Field, Eugene 302 

Fielding, Henry 143 

Finn, Father Francis J 296 

" Forever " 285 

Franklin, Benjamin 237 

Freneau, Philip 237 

Fullerton, Lady Georgiana. . .234 

Gay, John . 141 

" Gentle Shepherd " 140 

Geoffrey of Monmouth 12 

Gibbon, Edward 142 

Gibbons, Cardinal 300 

Goldsmith, Oliver 122 

" Gorboduc " 61 

Gower, John 26 

Gray, Thomas 126 

Grote, George 232 

Guiney, Louise Imogen 302 

Gulliver's Travels 107 

Habington, William 92 

Hale, Edward Everett 296 

Hallam, Henry 231 

Halleck, Fitz Greene 260 

Hamilton, Alexander 241 

Harris, Joel Chandler 297 

Harte, Bret 302 

Hathaway, Ann 36 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel 274 

Hayne, Paul Hamilton 295 

Hecker, Very Rev. I. T 292 

Hegel 104 

Herbert, George 61 

Herrick, Robert 91 

Hobbes, Thomas 92 

'• Hohenlinden " 175 

Holland, John Gilbert 301 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell 256 

"Home, Sweet Home" 268 

Hood, Thomas 179 

Hopkinson, Francis 237 

Hopkinson. John 237 

Howells. William Dean 296 

" Hudibras " 90 

Hume, David 142 

Hunt, Leigh 233 

Hyde, Edward 92 

" II Penseroso " 66 

"Intimations of Immortality " 152 

Jackson, Helen Hunt 298 



PAGE. 

James, Henry 296 

Jefferson, Thomas 238 

"Jew of Malta " 61 

Johnson, Samuel 115 

Johnston, Richard Malcolm. . .297 

Jonson, Ben 55 

Junius 142 

Kant 104 

Keats, John. 159 

Keble, John 179 

Key, Francis Scott 268 

Kingsley, Charles 234 

Klopstock 1U4 

." Lady of the Lake "". 197 

" L'Allegro " 66 

Lamb, Charles . . 223 

" Lament of Mary Queen of 

Scots " 139 

Landor, Walter Savage 232 

Lanf ranc 14 

Lanier, Sidney 265 

Layamon 14 

" Lead, Kindly Light " 183 

Lecky, Walter 294 

Lessing 104 

Letters of Junius 142 

Lever, Charles 233 

'■ Leviathan " 92 

Lingard, J ohn 231 

"Lives of the Saints" 141 

Locke, John 92 

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth 242 

" Longing " 289 

Lope de Vega 43 

Lover, Samuel 233 

Lowell, James Russell 286 

" Lycidas " 66 

Lyly, John 60 

Macaulay, Thomas Babington . 200 

" Macbeth " 42 

MacCarthy, Denis Florence. . .177 

Madison, James •. 241 

" Maidenhood " 249 

Mandeville, Sir John 25 

Manning, Cardinal 190 

" Marco Bozzaris " 260 

Marlowe, Christopher 61 

" Marmion " 198 

Marshall, John 241 

Marshall, Thomas William 232 

Massinger. Philip 62 

McGee, Thomas D'Arcy 234 

Meynell, Alice Thompson 228 

Miles, George Henry .266 

Miller, Joaquin 295 

Milman, Henry Hart 234 

Milton, John 65 

Miracle Plavs 33 

Mitchell, Donald G .301 

Moliere 77 

Montague, Lady Mary 143 

Montaigne 45 



INDEX. 



305 



PAGE. 

Montesquieu 103 

Moore, Thomas 171 

More, Hannah 143 

More, Sir Thomas 20 

Muloch, Dinah Maria 234 

Murfree, Mary Noailles 297 

Newman, Cardinal 180 

Newton, Sir Isaac 92 

" New Way to Pay Old Debts " 02 

" Night Thoughts " 140 

Norman Conquest 13 

" Ode to a Nightingale " 100 

" Ode to Mont Blanc " 107 

" Ode to the Passions " 141 

O'llagan, Thomas 301 

" Old Familiar Faces " 223 

O'Meara, Kathleen 228 

O'Reilly, John Boyle 282 

Otis, James 230 

Oxford Movement 183 

Page, Thomas Nelson 297 

" Paradise Lost " 72 

"Paraphrase," Caednion's 9 

Patmore, Coventry 294 

Payne, John Howard 208 

Pepys, Samuel 93 

Petrarch 24 

Piatt, John James 295 

" Pilgrim's Progress " 91 

Poe, Edgar Allan 259 

" Polyolbion " 00 

Pope, Alexander 95 

" Prayer to Our Lady " 21 

Prescott, William H 291 

Proctor, Adelaide Anne 170 

Prologue to the Canterbury 

Tales 23 

" Prospice " 104 

Racine 77 

Raleigh, Sir Walter 59 

Ramsay, Allen 140 

" Rasselas " 110 

Repplier, Agnes 301 

Rhyming Chroniclers.. 15 

Richardson, Samuel 143 

Roche, James Jeffrey 294 

Robertson, William 142 

Rogers. Samuel 179 

Rossetti, Christina 178 

Rossetti. Dante Gabriel 179 

Rousseau 103 

Ryan, Rev. Abram J 207 

Sackville, Thomas 01 

Sadlier, Mary A 299 

Sander, Nicholas 00 

Sandys, George 230 

Saxe, John Godfrey 207 

" Scarlet Letter " 277 

" School for Scandal " 142 



PAGE. 

Scott, Sir Walter 194 

Shakespeare, William 35 

Shea, John Gilmary 291 

Sheil, Richard Lalur 230 

Shelley, Percy Bysshe 142 

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley . .142 

Sidney, Sir Philip. 59 

Smith, Adam 142 

Smith, Father John Talbot... 290 

Smith, Sydney 234 

Smollett, Tobias George 143 

"Song of Marion's Men "....255 
" Sonnets from the Portu- 
guese" 105 

Southey, Robert 178 

Southwell, Robert 57 

Spalding, John Lancaster. .. .300 

Spalding, Most Rev. John 291 

Spenser, Edmund 40 

Spofford, Harriet Prescott 300 

St. Anselm 14 

Steele, Sir Richard 114 

Stedman, Edmund Clarence. . 293 

Sterne, Laurence 143 

Stevenson, Robert Louis 292 

Stoddard, Charles Warren. . .294 

Stoddard, Richard Henry 293 

" Summer Longings " 177 

Swift, Jonathan 105 

Tabb, Father John B 293 

"Tale of a Tub " 100 

" Tamburlaine " 01 

Taylor, Bayard 291 

Temple, Sir William 92 

Tennyson, Alfred 154 

Thackeray,William Makepeace 207 

"The Cloud" 173 

" The Deserted Village " 120 

" The One Want " 222 

" The Rhodora " 280 

" The Seasons " 141 

"The Sleep" 165 

"The Task " 134 

- The Traveler " 122 

" The Wild Honeysuckle " 238 

Thomson, James 141 

"Through Peace to Light "..176 

Tiernan, Frances C 298 

Timrod, Henry 200 

"To a Skylark" 151 

"To a Waterfowl " 252 

" Toxophilus " 28 

" Tristram Shandy " 143 

Trollope. Anthonv 234 

Trowbridge, John T 297 

" Utopia " 27 

" Voyages and Travels " 25 

Wace 14 

Wallace, Lew 295 



306 INDEX. 



PAGE. PAGE. 

Waller, Edmund 92 Webster, Daniel 269 

Walpele, Horace 142 Williams, Roger 236 

Walton, Izaak 92 Willis, Nathaniel P 267 

Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps 300 Wiseman, Cardinal 188 

Warner, Charles Dudley 301 Wordsworth, William 146 

"Weary" 178 

Wealth of Nations 142 Young, Edward 140 



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